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Webster  Family  Library  of  Veterinary  Medicine 
Cummings  School  of  Veterinary  Medicine  at 


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THE  AMERICAN  SPORTSMAN'S  LIBRARY 

EDITED  BY 

CASPAR    WHITNEY 


THE   SPORTING   DOG 


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THE  SPORTING  DOG 


BY 

JOSEPH   A.   GRAHAM 

WITH  MANY  ILLUSTRATIONS 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
1904 

All  rights  reserved 


^ 


Copyright,   1904, 
By  the   MACMILLAN    COMPANY. 


Set  up,  electrotyped,  and  published  January,  1904. 


Norwood  Press 

y.  S.  Gushing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 

Norwood f  Mass.f  U.S.A» 


TO   THE    MAKERS    OF   THIS    BOOK 

On  a  Virginia  day,  the  winter  of  1863,  a  human 
mite  peeped  through  a  fence  of  chestnut  rails  at 
the  concord  of  a  redhot  Confederate  landowner 
and  a  Federal  officer  over  an  old  white  setter  and 
a  bevy  of  quail,  —  "  bunch  of  pah'tridges,"  they 
said.  Every  year  since,  the  pupil  has  been  under 
the  tuition  of  men  who  know  sporting  dogs. 
Amateurs,  professionals,  scientists,  market-hunt- 
ers, dog-thieves,  financiers,  jurists,  loafers,  and 
clubmen;  Bluenoses,  Tarheels,  Hoosiers,  Cana- 
dians, Britishers,  Germans,  Populists,  and  Squaw- 
men,  —  for  the  unfailing  indulgence  with  which 
they  have  diminished  his  ignorance,  he  tenders 
acknowledgment. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    American  Variations i 

II.    Shooting  Breeds 12 

III.  Pointer  Families 24 

IV.  English  Setter  Questions 40 

V.    American  Llewellins 53 

VI.    Laveracks  in  America 84 

VII.    Irish  and  Gordon  Setters 97 

VIII.    Greyhounds no 

IX.    Foxhounds 126 

X.    Beagles 143 

XI.    Chesapeakes  and  Water-spaniels      .        .        .156 

XII.    Fox  Terriers 164 

XIII.  Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog 168 

XIV.  The  Dogs  they  prefer 187 

XV.    Elcho  and  Faust "^04 

XVI.    Class 210 

XVII.    Training  and  Care 226 

XVIII.     Breeding 241 

XIX.    Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials         .        .        .  254 

Sketches  in  the  East  and  West 268 

APPENDIX 

Bench-show  Standards  and  Field-trial  Rules     .        .  301 

Index 315 

vii 


LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS 

No  Time  to  think Frontispiece 

FACING   PAGE 

Llewellin.    Light  Type 17 

Llewellin.     Large  Type 17 

Llewellin-Laverack ,19 

Pointer.    Medium  Weight 19 

Pointer.     Heavy  Weight 25 

Pointer.     Heavy  Weight "25 

Pointer.    Glenheigh  Blood      .        .        .        .        .        '31 

Pointer.     Heavy  Weight 31 

Llewellin.     Field-trial  Type 71 

Llewellin.     Light  Weight.     Field-trial  Type     .        .  71 

Llewellin.     Light  Weight 80 

Llewellin.     Gleam  Type 81 

Modern  Laverack       85 

Modern  Laverack 85 

Gordon  Setter 103 

Irish  Setter 103 

Coursing  on  the  Plains 117 

Coursing  Greyhound 122 

The  Mixed  English  and  American  Foxhound  Pack  of 

THE  Radnor  Hunt 125 

Fox    Hunting   in   the    Southwest  and    the   Type   of 

Hound  in  General  Use 129 

American  Foxhound.    Trigg  Strain        .        .        .        •  133 

Foxhound.    English  Type 140 

ix 


X  List  of  Illustrations 

FACING  PAGE 

American  Foxhound.    July  Strain 140 

Beagle.    Working  Type 145 

Chesapeake  Bay  Dog 145 

Hunting  Beagles  on  Foot 149 

Wire-hair  Fox  Terrier 165 

Llewellin.    Light  Type 192 

Llewellin-Laverack.     Large  Type 192 


THE   SPORTING   DOG 


THE  SPORTING  DOG 

CHAPTER  I 

AMERICAN    VARIATIONS 

America  is  not  England.  After  a  century  and 
a  quarter  of  firecracking  Fourths  the  statement 
is  a  political  superfluity,  but  no  study  of  sporting 
dogs  can  reach  clear  going  except  across  the  dead 
body  of  the  contention  that  America  is  an  ex- 
tension of  British  jurisdiction  and  infallibility. 

That  settled,  the  next  step  is  to  thank  Great 
Britain  for  every  one  of  our  dogs  of  sporting 
breed.  In  our  actual  sports  we  use  setters  and 
pointers,  foxhounds  and  beagles,  greyhounds  and 
two  breeds  of  water  retrievers.  Crosses  and  mon- 
grels need  not  be  counted.  These  regular  breeds 
are  all  British. 

In  technical  classification  the  sporting  division 
includes  all  the  hounds,  the  Clumber,  cocker  and 
field  spaniels,  with  the  fox  terriers  and  the  rest  of 
the  sporting  terrier  list.  Some  writers  add  col- 
lies. In  our  country,  however,  none  of  these 
other  breeds  —  ignoring  dog-fights  and  ratting  — 


2  The  Sporting  Dog 

IS  used  to  an  appreciable  extent  in  practical  sport. 
They  are  kept  as  fancy  varieties  and  as  compan- 
ions. In  fashion  and  on  the  benches  the  semi- 
sporting  dogs  have  forged  ahead  fast  within  a 
few  years,  and  now  collectively  outnumber  in  the 
studbooks  and  shows  the  actual  servants  of  the 
gun  and  leash.  Attractive  they  are,  too,  and 
well  worthy  of  care  and  study ;  but  only  a  volu- 
minous and  exhaustive  treatise  would  need  to 
describe  them  in  detail,  since  they  do  not  differ 
at  all  from  their  cousins  across  the  water,  where 
the  breeds  have  been  elaborately  set  forth  by 
competent  authorities  and  where  the  standards 
for  both  countries  have  been  fixed.  Boston  ter- 
riers alone  have  an  American  status  all  their  own, 
and  they  are  scarcely  sporting  dogs. 

In  what  does  the  sporting  dog  proper  differ  in 
America  from  the  British  dog  of  the  same  breed } 
Greyhounds  not  at  all,  as  yet,  though  if  the  wide 
prairies  had  remained  unfenced,  there  is  a  chance 
that  the  climate  and  the  jack  rabbit,  a  faster  and 
stiffer  traveller  than  the  English  hare,  might  have 
caused  a  definite  modification.  Water  retrievers 
not  much,  though  the  Chesapeake  Bay  dog  is  an 
American  development,  in  form  and  raiment  quite 
unlike  any  British  breed. 

It  is  foxhounds  and  shooting  dogs  which  have 
become,  under  American  conditions,  something 
essentially  different  from  what  the  British  sports- 


American  Variations  3 

men  established  and  have  maintained  as  filling 
their  conceptions  of  utility  and  good  looks. 

Reduced  to  the  simplest  terms,  the  change 
wrought  over  here  comes  to  this:  The  dry  cli- 
mate of  extreme  temperatures,  the  nature  of  the 
grounds  and  game,  and  the  methods  of  hunting 
the  fox  and  shooting  game  birds  cause  the  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  to  proceed  in  the  direction  of 
a  faster,  lighter,  more  enduring  animal ;  perhaps 
not  more  sensitive  of  nose,  but  quicker  in  the 
reflexes  of  judgment  and  action  which  are  the 
sequences  of  scent. 

An  American  will  pardon  every  defect  but  one. 
That  one  is  inability  to  stand  the  pace.  Conse- 
quently, the  dog  which  has  more  beef  and  timber 
than  his  nerve  and  power  can  carry  drops,  as  the 
same  American  sportsman  would  say,  into  the 
discard  and  is  replaced  by  another  which  can  go 
the  route  at  the  pace. 

For  speed  and  endurance  are  built  upon  the 
factors  of  strong  muscle  on  a  light  bony  struc- 
ture, a  heart  action  beyond  the  ordinary,  and  a 
nervous  energy  which  cannot  be  physically  meas- 
ured, but  is  even  more  necessary  in  a  dog  than  in 
a  racehorse,  because  whip  and  spur  cannot  force 
unwilling  or  failing  powers. 

Conformation  counts  for  much  with  theorists. 
It  has  an  importance.  Utterly  bad  shape  is  in- 
compatible with  easy  speed.     But  the  small  varia- 


4  The  Sporting  Dog 

tions  at  which  solemn  criticism  is  often  hurled 
are  more  to  the  eye  than  to  the  deed.  The  ratio 
of  weight  to  power,  the  blood-pump,  the  energy 
and  the  hunting  zeal  —  these  are  what  tell;  and 
to  these  ends  American  sportsmen  have  chosen 
their  dogs. 

Bred  their  dogs,  one  might  say,  but  the  phrase 
would  be  only  a  half-truth.  The  British  —  Ire- 
land and  Scotland  are  one  with  England  in  dogs 
—  are  better  breeders  than  we.  They  are  far 
and  away  the  best  in  the  world.  Horses,  cat- 
tle, sheep,  chickens,  pigeons  —  what  you  will,  the 
British  breed  better  than  others  if  they  take  it 
up  at  all. 

Not  that  they  know  any  science  of  breeding 
concealed  from  the  rest  of  the  world.  They  love 
the  land  and  they  love  outdoor  sport.  With  this 
penchant  for  the  land  and  its  sports  they  have  the 
British  —  not  less  British  than  Yankee  —  gift  of 
shrewd  common  sense,  and  an  insistence  on 
good  form  and  approved  standards  which  is  more 
British  than  Yankee.  It  is  only  justice  to  be- 
lieve that  if  they  had  our  land  and  our  game, 
and  had  undertaken  to  breed  dogs  to  suit  both, 
they  would  have  produced  the  typical  American 
qualities  and  at  the  same  time  have  achieved 
more  of  uniformity  and  breediness. 

Americans  are  clear  as  to  what  they  ask  a  dog 
to  do,  but  neglectful  of  any  ten  commandments 


American  Variations  5 

or  thirty-nine  articles  bearing  on  how  he  looks. 
And,  as  such,  they  are  indifferent  breeders  —  at 
least  of  dogs.  It  is  history  that  an  American 
plunges  into  breeding  with  smart  confidence, 
overdoes  at  the  start,  wearies  about  at  the  point 
where  he  might  learn  something,  and  seeks  an- 
other novelty.  To  the  Englishman,  sport  goes 
with  the  land  and  breeding  with  the  sport.  If  he 
surpasses  in  his  breeding,  he  is  gratified.  If 
things  go  awry,  he  keeps  on  breeding  just  the 
same.  In  England  the  landowner  has  most  of 
the  sporting  dogs.  In  America  nine  out  of  ten 
pedigreed  shooting  dogs  are  bred  and  owned  by 
lawyers,  merchants,  and  other  townsmen  who 
shoot  by  sufferance  or  invitation  on  the  lands 
of  other  people.  Breeding,  even  shooting,  is  an 
amusement  and  an  incident.  It  is  lightly  picked 
up,  lightly  pursued,  lightly  forgotten. 

So  the  British  are  better  breeders.  Where  we 
have  the  advantage  is  in  the  abundance  of  game 
—  now,  alas,  becoming  by  degrees  a  scarcity  — 
free  to  almost  anybody,  a  country  of  immense 
extent,  foxes  which  are  wild  animals,  and  the  Bob 
White,  a  bird  upon  which  the  field  dog  can  ex- 
hibit every  quality,  best  to  lie  and  trickiest  to 
hide  of  all  shootable  feathered  creatures. 

In  the  evolution  among  pointers  and  setters 
of  a  greater  proportion  of  energy  to  weight,  it 
has  sometimes  happened  that  public  trials  have 


6  The  Sporting  Dog 

brought  out  winners  which  seemed  very  small. 
When  these  winners  appeared  alongside  of  the 
larger  and  heavier  dogs  of  older  type  the  alarmists 
cried  out  that  the  setters  and  pointers  were 
becoming  degenerate  from  inbreeding  and  other 
causes.  Longer  experience  has  rather  dissipated 
the  alarm,  though  some  of  the  city  writers  resume 
the  cry  occasionally  when  they  see  a  few  small 
celebrities  benched  near  bigger  beauties  at  a 
show.  Handlers  and  breeders  who  were  among 
the  dogs  saw  that  the  quite  small  ones  were 
rather  the  exception  at  all  times,  and  that  winners 
represented  about  a  good,  fair  average ;  more- 
over, that  the  noticeably  small-sized  winners  were 
nearly  always  of  exceptionally  good  make-up — 
big  little  dogs — and,  well  mated,  had  a  good 
influence  in  perfecting  the  breed.  Nowadays  the 
handlers  and  breeders  work  along,  winning  with 
whatever  can  win,  producing  from  what  can  pro- 
duce ;  finding  that  there  are  big  ones,  little  ones, 
and  medium  ones,  and  that  academics  must  be 
guided  by  practice,  not  practice  by  academics. 
If  the  breeders  do  not  stick  to  the  game,  the 
handlers  do ;  and  so  far  there  has  always  been 
a  new  crop  of  breeders  coming  on,  with  a  few 
leaders,  like  Mr.  Pierre  Lorillard  and  the  late 
Colonel  Edward  Dexter,  who  maintain  their 
patronage  steadily  through  the  years.  The  large 
number  of  public  events  and    the  enormous  pri- 


American  Variations  7 

vate  ownership  of  shooting  dogs  produce  a  result 
which  the  more  concentrated  and  deep-seated 
breeding  fancy  in  Great  Britain  cannot  equal ; 
and  could  not  equal  even  if  the  fashion  of  driving 
game  had  not  diminished  their  use  of  dogs. 

So  the  faster  hounds  of  further-reaching  and 
mellower  cry,  so  the  setters  and  pointers  of  wider 
range  and  keener  temperament  have  been  pro- 
duced —  not  by  any  man's  system  of  breeding, 
but  by  the  constant  selection  of  those  which 
carry  the  pace  under  more  exacting  conditions. 

British  writers  on  sporting  dogs  are  usually 
ahead  of  us.  They  regard  their  work  more 
seriously.  The  better  books  on  dogs  in  England 
are  elevated  in  tone,  scientific  in  spirit,  and  com- 
mendably  thorough.  With  us  there  is  a  trifle  too 
much  of  the  chip-on-the-shoulder  or  of  the  atti- 
tude that  about  dogs  anything  will  do.  A  report 
has  just  been  issued  by  the  Fish  and  Game  Com- 
mission of  a  western  state.  It  is  bulky  and  quite 
fancifully  illustrated.  The  chapter  on  setters  and 
pointers  states  sweepingly  that  a  great  majority 
of  dogs  used  for  private  shooting  or  entered  in 
field  trials  are  pointers.  The  writer,  on  this 
premise,  concludes  that  pointers  suit  the  United 
States  better  than  setters.  Just  as  this  book 
reached  me,  the  entries  of  the  Nebraska  and 
Manitoba  field  trials  were  announced.  These 
two  entry  lists  included  most  of  the  dogs  which 


8  The  Sporting  Dog 

the  trials  of  1903  have  seen.  They  were  the 
beginning  of  the  circuit.  In  the  Manitoba  Derby 
were  entered  46  setters  and  16  pointers.  The 
all-age  entries  were  33  setters  and  16  pointers. 
In  Nebraska  the  Derby  had  52  setters  and  26 
pointers;  the  all-age  stake  42  setters,  one  of  them 
Irish,  and  24  pointers.  If  all  had  been  pointers 
or  all  setters,  the  difference  would  not  have  been 
material,  since  either  breed  is,  all  in  all,  as  good 
as  the  other.  But  it  makes  a  big  difference 
when  an  official  report  proclaims  a  fact  which  is 
not  a  fact  and  draws  a  conclusion  which  is  viti- 
ated from  the  start.  The  subject  was  dogs  and 
the  author  set  down  carelessly  a  casual  impres- 
sion, formed  nobody  knows  how.  The  studbooks 
show  a  like  preponderance  of  setters  in  private 
hands. 

The  English  do  these  things  better.  Stone- 
henge,  not  now  up  to  date  even  with  revision, 
was  an  example  of  lucidity,  judicial  care,  and 
ripened  observation  worthy  of  an  honored  place 
in  any  literature.  Rawdon  Lee  was  a  later  au- 
thority of  the  same  type.  Even  Mr.  Lane,  whose 
chipper  book  is  but  three  years  old,  possesses  a 
freedom  from  pseudo-literary  affectation  and  a 
wholesome  sincerity  of  treatment  which  inspire 
confidence  in  his  message  as  far  as  it  goes. 

Still,  though  we  breed  erratically  and  write 
loosely,  we  undoubtedly  have,  in  "  class  "  of  per- 


American  Variations  g 

formance  at  work,  the  best  bird  dogs  and  hounds 
ever  seen.  If  this  seems  a  broad  statement,  I 
must  refer  to  English  sportsmen  of  my  acquaint- 
ance who  have  done  hunting  and  shooting  on 
both  sides. 

That  being  the  fact,  it  becomes  worth  while 
to  inquire  into  the  history  of  our  sporting  dogs 
and  to  formulate  some  of  the  methods  we  use  in 
handling  them. 

The  reader  will  understand  that  the  American 
modification  here  considered  is  not  accepted  by 
all  Americans.  There  has  been  a  conflict,  some- 
times bitter,  between  those  who  would  adhere 
strictly  to  English  ideals  and  standards  and  those 
who  would  press  into  recognition  the  American 
changes.  The  East,  generally  speaking,  is  the 
conservative  section,  supported  by  many  Cana- 
dian sportsmen. 

English  setter  men  have  conducted  the  factional 
contest  most  sharply.  Soon  after  the  introduc- 
tion of  bench  shows,  the  American  school,  led  by 
bench  and  field  judges  like  Major  Taylor,  now  of 
New  York,  Mr.  P.  T.  Madison  of  Indianapolis, 
Mr.  P.  H.  Bryson  of  Memphis,  General  Shattuc 
of  Cincinnati,  and  Mr.  W.  S.  Bell  of  Pittsburg, 
insisted  on  awarding  bench  prizes  to  the  lighter 
type.  Twice  a  club  has  been  organized  to  formu- 
late a  new  written  standard.  The  first  was  fifteen 
years  ago,  the  second  in  1 900-1 901.     These  new 


lo  The  Sporting  Dog 

standards  were  not  accepted  by  the  other  side,  and 
the  dispute  remains  where  it  stood.  The  con- 
servative side  has  been  upheld  by  Messrs.  John 
Davidson  of  Michigan,  William  Tallman  of  Con- 
necticut, Dr.  Hair  of  the  same  state,  James  Mor- 
timer of  New  York,  and  other  judges.  Usually 
the  Westminster  Kennel  Club  has  alternated  from 
year  to  year  in  selecting  its  English  setter  judges, 
to  give  each  side  a  chance  to  illustrate  what  it 
means  by  type. 

American  foxhounds  were  also  developed  in 
the  South  and  West,  though  in  practical  hunting 
they  have  the  field  to  themselves,  with  occasional 
crosses  of  imported  hounds,  in  all  the  states. 
There  are  only  three  or  four  packs  of  definite 
English  type  which  an  English  M.  F.  H.  would 
regard  with  approbation.  Mr.  Mather  of  Phila- 
delphia and  Major  Wadsworth  of  Geneseo,  New 
York,  have  the  best  kennels  of  direct  English 
importation  and  style,  Mr.  Keene  now  aiming  at 
the  same  forward  position. 

The  American  sporting  dog,  therefore,  as  a 
separate  development,  is  a  prevailing  tendency 
and  not  a  res  adjudicata.  The  changes  involve 
not  a  few  contradictions  which  confuse  a  novice 
listening  to  controversial  assertions.  But  the 
separate  development  is  a  certainty,  and  the  lines 
can  be  marked  out  with  an  intelligible  approxima- 
tion to  definiteness. 


American  Variations  ii 

Definiteness  as  to  the  present.  If  I  were  to 
picture  the  future,  I  should  describe  the  notable 
recent  increase  of  preserves,  some  of  exclusive 
ownership,  some  of  leased  privileges  over  farm 
lands,  and  make  the  deduction  that  fifty  years  will 
extend  over  America  something  closely  resembling 
the  British  condition.  But  there  will  be  other 
books  on  sporting  dogs  to  tell  that  other  story 
when  the  time  comes. 


CHAPTER   II 

SHOOTING   BREEDS 

Accurate  impressions  of  the  general  value  and 
utility  of  shooting  dogs  in  America  cannot  be 
formed  from  any  man's  private  judgment,  even 
when  his  experience  is  considerable.  No  man's 
personal  observation  covers  more  than  a  small  part 
of  the  ground,  and  an  assured  estimate  can  be 
obtained  only  by  averaging  a  large  number  of 
personal  opinions  collected  from  different  parts 
of  the  country,  or  by  an  analysis  of  the  public 
records.  In  preparing  this  book  my  effort  has 
been  to  combine  these  two  methods  in  order  to 
reach  results  which  will  be  reliably  instructive. 

As  far  as  anything  can  be,  the  records  of  regis- 
tration in  the  studbooks  are  free  from  narrow  and 
factional  opinions.  In  the  American  Kennel  Club 
Studbook  for  1902  there  are  893  English  setters, 
708  pointers,  70  Irish  setters,  and  37  Gordon  set- 
ters. Out  of  the  893  English  setters,  756  have 
Gladstone  or  Count  Noble  blood  ;  in  the  great  ma- 
jority of  cases  both.  There  are  53  which  are  either 
modern  Laveracks  or  carry  a  controlling  infusion 
of  that  blood.    There  are  84  of  prevailing  Llewel- 

12 


Shooting  Breeds  13 

lin  blood  which  have  neither  Gladstone  nor  Count 
Noble  lines. 

The  American  Kennel  Club  registration  is  pat- 
ronized by  owners  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and 
is  the  only  studbook  which  the  bench  show  men, 
considered  as  a  class,  use  at  all.  The  preponder- 
ance of  Llewellin  setters,  and  the  remarkable 
command  which  the  Gladstone  and  Count  Noble 
families  have  of  the  situation,  are  conclusive  as  to 
the  popularity  of  that  variety  of  English  setters. 
No  other  registration  is  recognized  at  bench  shows 
except  that  of  the  American  Kennel  Club.  The 
tide  of  preference  for  Llewellin  setters  and  for  the 
Gladstone  and  Count  Noble  blood  is,  therefore, 
conclusively  shown  by  the  setter  figures  of  this 
studbook  ;  because  the  leading  bench  show  special- 
ists prefer  the  Laverack,  and  are  often  inexorable 
in  condemning  the  Llewellin.  If  the  studbook 
used  by  them  presents  such  a  proportion  of 
Llewellins,  there  seems  to  be  nothing  left  of 
doubt  as  to  the  English  setter  strains  preferred 
in  American  sport. 

The  Field  Dog  Studbook,  conducted  in  Chi- 
cago by  the  American  Field,  contains  for  1902 
about  twelve  hundred  English  setter  registrations 
and  practically  all  of  them  have  either  Gladstone 
or  Count  Noble  blood,  or  both,  though  the  Laver- 
ack lines  of  Monk  of  Furness,  Count  Howard, 
and    others    appear    frequently.      This    volume 


14  The  Sporting  Dog 

shows  one  pure  Laverack.  The  managers  of  the 
Field  Dog  Studbook  separate  "  straight-bred " 
Llewellins  from  other  Engb'sh  setters,  but  this  is 
not  worth  noticing,  while,  since  well  meant,  it  is 
confusing  and  unjust.  There  never  has  been  a 
fixed  strain  in  or  descended  from  Mr.  Llewellin's 
kennel.  All  through  this  book  I  shall  use  the 
term  "  Llewellin  "  in  connection  with  dogs  which 
have  a  large  preponderance  of  Llewellin  blood, 
and  the  term  "  Modern  Laverack  "  in  connection 
with  dogs  which  have 'an  overwhelming  percent- 
age of  Laverack  blood,  and  have  been  bred  to  the 
Laverack  type. 

In  the  Field  Dog  Studbook  there  are  about 
seven  hundred  pointers,  thirty-nine  Irish  setters, 
and  twenty  Gordons. 

While  on  this  subject,  the  registration  of  other 
dogs  practically  used  in  American  sports  may  be 
noticed.  In  the  American  Kennel  Club  Stud- 
book  for  1902  there  are  one  Chesapeake  Bay  dog 
and  one  bitch ;  three  Irish  water  spaniel  dogs  and 
one  bitch.  In  the  Field  Dog  Studbook  for  1902 
there  are  six  Chesapeake  Bay  dogs  and  three 
bitches;  seven  Irish  water  spaniel  dogs  and  five 
bitches. 

When  it  is  remembered  that  the  American 
Kennel  Club  Studbook  was  originally  established 
by  the  field  trial  associations  in  the  West,  it  is 
curious    to    note    the   progress  of   what .  may  be 


Shooting  Breeds  15 

termed  the  fancy  breeds  in  America.  In  the 
volume  for  1902  there  are  registered  860  odd 
Boston  terriers,  1380  collies  and  330  fox  terriers. 
When  the  studbook  was  established,  the  Airedale 
terrier  was  almost  unknown  in  America ;  yet  the 
volume  for  1902  shows  a  registration  of  some 
hundred  and  sixty  Airedales  —  a  great  many 
more  than  the  registration  of  Irish  and  Gordon 
setters  combined. 

I  may  say  that  I  made  no  attempt  to  exhaus- 
tively verify  these  figures.  They  may  be  in  error 
slightly  one  way  or  the  other.  The  evidence  on 
all  points  was  so  irresistible  that  I  permitted  my 
first  count  to  stand. 

Of  course  these  registrations  do  not  tell  the 
whole  story.  The  foxhound  and  greyhound  men 
have  their  special  studbooks.  It  is  also  to  be 
said  in  connection  with  pointers  and  setters  that 
nearly  all  the  collie  and  Boston  terrier  men  regis- 
ter their  dogs,  while  in  all  likelihood  three-quarters 
of  the  three  breeds  of  setters  and  the  pointers  in 
use  in  the  country  are  not  registered.  At  the 
same  time  the  general  story  of  the  studbook 
records  is  descriptive  of  the  situation  affecting 
the  various  breeds  of  shooting  dogs.  In  other 
words,  the  shooting  men  of  America  use  Llewel- 
lin  setters  and  pointers  so  largely  that  other 
breeds  scarcely  can  be  called  competitors.  It  is 
also  a  basic  conclusion  that  Gladstone  and  Count 


1 6  The  Sporting  Dog 

Noble  setters  have  almost  crowded  out  other 
Llewellins  and  that  King  of  Kent  and  Jingo 
pointers  are  rapidly  assuming  the  same  position 
of  undisputed  supremacy  in  their  breed. 

Not  only  on  account  of  their  numbers,  but  on 
account  of  the  sharp  discussions  about  individuals 
and  types,  the  Llewellin  setters  must  always  oc- 
cupy the  largest  space  in  any  discussion  of  shoot- 
ing dogs.  In  reference  to  these  discussions  and 
to  differences  over  the  relative  value  of  different 
breeds  of  setters  and  different  families  of  pointers, 
the  reader  should  understand  that  partisans  never 
do  justice  to  the  dogs  on  the  other  side.  It  is  not 
well  to  believe  the  Llewellin  breeders  who  call 
the  modern  Laveracks  parlor  dogs  and  diseased 
picture  dogs.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  can  testify 
that  these  Laveracks  make  very  useful  shooting 
dogs  which  generally  come  to  hand  without  much 
trouble.  It  would  be  a  still  greater  mistake  if  one 
believed  in  the  various  denunciations  of  Llew- 
ellins. You  will  hear  it  said  that  the  Llewellins 
are  suffering  from  inbreeding ;  that  they  get 
small  and  puny ;  that  they  are  all  heels  and  no 
brains.  You  can  hear  these  assertions  and  many 
others,  not  one  of  which  is  even  approximately 
true. 

A  great  many  of  the  fashionable  field  trial 
winners  have  been  rather  light  and  small,  and 
many  of  their  descendants  are  not  easy  to  train  on 


LLEWELLIN.     LIGHT  TYPE 

Rodfield's  Pride  (Cowley's).  By  Champion  Rodfield-Sport's  Belle  by  Mane's 
Sport.  Count  Noble,  Gleam,  and  Gladstone  blood.  Winner  of  several  important 
stakes,  autumn  of  1902.  Forty  six  pounds  in  field-trial  condition.  White-and- 
orange.  Owner,  Mr.  John  Cowley,  Milwaukee,  Wisconsin.  This  dog  was  the  chief 
winner  among  the  setters  and  pointers  in  the  prairie  chicken  trials  of  1902. 


LLEWELLIN.     LARGE   TYPE 

Count  Specso.  By  Count  Rodstone-Nona  H.  by  Gladstone's  Boy.  Litter  brother 
to  Doc  Hick.  Weight,  sixty-four  pounds  in  ordinary  condition.  White-black-tan. 
Steady  and  cleve/  shooting  dog.  Owner,  Mr.  J.  E.  Bright,  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  For 
a  large  setter,  Count  Specso  has  great  activity  and  endurance. 


Shooting  Breeds  17 

account  of  their  intense  hunting  and  ranging 
disposition.  But  this  difficulty  is  more  on  the 
surface  than  real,  since  the  dogs  in  most  cases 
come  under  discipline  quickly  when  the  trainer 
sets  himself  seriously  to  developing  their  bird 
work.  There  are  plenty  of  Llewellins  which  will 
weigh  sixty  pounds  and  more,  and  plenty  of 
them  which  have  brains  enough  to  make  circus 
dogs  if  anybody  cared  to  use  them  for  such  a 
purpose. 

Giving  the  fixed  name  "  Llewellin "  in  this 
country  to  setters  of  certain  blood  has  caused  a 
great  deal  of  confusion,  though  it  was  a  gracious 
idea  in  the  first  place  and  it  is  no  more  than  jus- 
tice to  Mr.  Llewellin's  liberality  and  labor  in  the 
interest  of  field  dogs.  The  trouble  is  that  a  great 
many  people  do  all  their  thinking  on  the  assump- 
tion that  whatever  strains  to  Mr.  Llewellin's  ken- 
nel represents  a  concentrated  breeding  and  a 
definite  type.  Even  a  superficial  study  of  the 
subject  shows  that  either  a  straight-bred  Llewellin 
is  a  paradoxical  impossibility,  or  that  every  Llewel- 
lin is  straight-bred.  The  cursory  student  will  also 
find  out  that  only  a  few  dogs  of  Mr.  Llewellin's 
breeding  were  successful  in  helping  to  create  the 
American  favorite.  Later  importations  from  his 
kennel,  like  Gus  Bondhu  and  Dick  Bondhu,  were 
soon  discarded,  and  the  influence  of  some  of  the 
earlier  dogs,  which  are  painted  in  glowing  colors 


1 8  The  Sporting  Dog 

by  the  fancy  writers,  was  utterly  submerged  in  the 
field  trial  kennels. 

Many  of  the  logicians  and  microscopists,  who 
do  the  theorizing  for  sporting  papers,  will  cite 
opinions  and  detached  facts  to  the  contrary,  but 
it  remains  that  the  American  field  trial  type  of 
setter  is  essentially  Gladstonian.  For  scientific 
purposes,  it  would  be  accurate  to  call  this  type  the 
Gladstone  setter  rather  than  the  Llewellin  setter. 
This  Gladstone  type  is  a  leader  among  American 
setters.  It  is  wiry,  compact,  fast,  and  decisive, 
with  remarkable  courage  and  ability  to  carry  high 
speed.  Nevertheless,  there  are,  as  I  have  said, 
any  number  of  Llewellin  types  which  should  suit 
all  tastes.  We  see  Llewellins  having  every  attri- 
bute of  value  except  good  heads  and  good  tails. 
Excellence  at  these  two  points  is  rather  hard  to 
find  if  all  the  old  standards  in  regard  to  muzzle, 
skull,  and  stern  are  to  be  retained.  There  has 
been  a  frequent  complaint  in  the  East  that  the 
Llewellins  represented  a  degeneration  from  true 
English  setter  type.  The  gentlemen  who  present 
this  dogma  have  usually  learned  all  they  know 
from  studying  bench  shows,  where  the  beauty  of 
the  Laveracks  has  largely  given  them  the  prefer- 
ence. To  tell  the  truth  once  more,  there  are 
vastly  more  Llewellins  true  to  the  old  and  ap- 
proved English  setter  type  than  Laveracks;  by 
that  I  mean  having  good  bodies  and  running  gear. 


LLEWELLIN-LAVERACK 

Champion  Cincinnatus's  Pride.  By  Champion  Cincinnatus-Champion  Albert's 
Nellie.  Fifty  five  pounds.  White-black-tan.  Bench  champion  ;  field-trial  winner, 
beating-  Champion  Tony's  Gale  and  others.  Llewellin  blood  through  Count  Noble 
and  Druid;  Laverack  through  Tarn  O'Shanter  and  imported  Carlowitz.  Regarded 
as  the  best  combined  bench  and  field  English  setter  of  the  present.  Owner,  Mr. 
Edward  A.  Burdett,  Radnor,  Pennsylvania.  The  photograph  was  not  taken  at  an 
angle  to  do  justice  to  the  champion's  excellent  muzzle  and  fine  shoulders. 


F 

^ 

mt§ 

m^  mamtjL 

|. 

^^m*      ^!^^^^^^^^ 

l^^^l 

mm 

'M'!—~ 

.-JS 

POINTER.      MEDIUM    WEIGHT 

King  Cyrano.  By  Jingo-Kate  Kent  by  King  of  Kent.  White-and-orange.  Direct 
cross  of  Jingo  and  King  of  Kent  blood.  Winner  of  the  Illinois  all  age,  1901,  and  other 
places  in  trials.  Known  as  the  most  thoroughly  broken  field  dog  that  ever  won  a 
Derby  in  the  United  States.  Owner,  Mr.  J.  A.  Morton.  Marshall,  Illinois.  In  hard 
field-trial  condition,  Cyrano  weighs  slightly  less  tlian  fifty  pounds. 


Shooting  Breeds  19 

Until  men  cease  breeding  dogs,  the  name  of 
Edward  Laverack  will  always  stand  highest.  Any 
breeder  of  dogs,  though  his  fancy  may  be  for  toy 
spaniels  or  mastiffs  rather  than  for  shooting  dogs, 
takes  off  his  hat  in  veneration  when  he  speaks  of 
Laverack.  Every  man  of  them  knows  that  at  a 
time  when  communication  was  difficult  and  the 
art  of  breeding  had  not  been  carried  far,  Mr. 
Laverack  produced  a  variety  of  setters  which  in 
beauty  and  distinction  have  never  been  equalled 
by  any  creation  of  the  breeder's  efforts.  For  a 
half  century  these  dogs  have  stood  out  easily  at 
the  head  of  all  others  in  their  patrician  appear- 
ance ;  in  the  elegance  and  symmetry  which  are 
evidences  of  gentle  birth.  It  is  hard  to  breed 
Laveracks  good  at  all  points,  but  when  one  does 
come  right  it  has  a  stamp  of  noblesse  which  no 
other  dog  rivals.  The  Laveracks  have  always 
had  their  friends  in  America,  and  probably  will  be 
preserved  for  generations  to  set  an  example  of 
quality  in  breeding.  In  the  field  they  suit  a  great 
many  practical  sportsmen,  and  as  long  as  they 
please  their  supporters  it  is  idle  to  speak  dispar- 
agingly of  their  abilities  on  birds. 

Considering  pointers  and  setters  as  rivals,  we 
come  to  a  difficult  question.  Each  breed  has  its 
advocates,  many  of  them  so  extreme  that  they  will 
listen  to  nothing  in  favor  of  the  other.  Setters 
seem  to  meet  the  requirements  in  a  larger  variety 


20  The  Sporting  Dog 

of  work  and  in  more  parts  of  the  country.  The 
pointers  are  most  popular  in  the  Middle  West, 
where  the  country  is  open  and  the  work  is  on 
wheat  stubble  and  similar  ground.  The  setter  is 
a  better  water  dog,  and  is  the  only  bird  dog  suited 
to  a  country  where  briers  are  thick.  The  pointer 
suffers  less  from  sandburs  and  is  said  to  stand 
the  heat  better,  though  I  never  could  see  any  dif- 
ference in  this  last  respect.  I  am  inclined  to 
think  that  out  of  an  equal  number  of  puppies  one 
could  develop  more  good  pointers  than  setters. 
Pointers  take  to  their  work  more  readily,  and  in 
the  hands  of  an  ordinary  amateur  are  more  easily 
handled,  though  the  rule  is  not  universal.  This 
last  quality,  with  the  sandbur  troubles  of  setters, 
gives  the  pointer  the  lead  in  amateur  hands 
through  the  prairie  states. 

The  Irish  setter  can  nearly  always  be  made  a 
good  retriever  on  land  and  water,  and  probably 
stands  rough  weather  better  than  any  other  shoot- 
ing breed.  The  Gordon's  rough  weather  qualities 
are  little  inferior.  The  studbook  figures  show 
that  neither  the  Irish  nor  Gordon  setter  has  quite 
met  the  taste  of  American  sportsmen.  I  shall 
endeavor  later  to  account  for  this  fact. 

In  the  subsequent  chapters  in  which  the  history 
and  the  special  qualities  of  these  shooting  breeds 
are  presented,  it  seems  useful  to  describe  briefly 
the  dogs  which  appear  in  present  pedigrees  and 


Shooting  Breeds  ai 

in  those  likely  to  come  before  the  amateur  in  the 
next  twenty  years,  so  that  the  inheritance  as- 
sembled in  a  dog's  pedigree  can  be  intelligently 
studied  by  the  owner  who  may  be  curious  —  as 
every  owner  ought  to  be  —  about  the  potentiali- 
ties of  his  dog's  family  history. 

One  cannot  always  follow  the  venerated  coun- 
sel, "  experto  crede,"  in  overhauling  the  virtues  of 
ancient  dog  heroes.  They  were  not  all  grace  and 
glory  as  the  "  expert "  pencillers  and  rhapsodists 
pictured  them.  When  reading  about  them,  one 
can  see  that  the  writers  and  artists  were  exercising 
their  own  powers  instead  of  laboring  for  science ; 
in  which  they  followed  the  old  rule  of  historians 
and  court  painters.  We  must  do  what  we  can  to 
get  at  the  plain  truth. 

Humans  who  have  the  eye  for  dogs  will  be 
broad  in  spirit.  There  is  room  and  there  is 
reason  for  many  tastes.  The  true  sportsman  is 
a  connoisseur,  and  the  true  connoisseur  would 
rather  revel  in  the  perception  of  beauties  and 
achievements,  than  join  the  unhappy  hunt  for  im- 
perfections. Every  expanded  mind  is  first  appre- 
ciative ;  every  mean  mind  is  first  depreciating. 

If  a  man  has  seen  much  of  dogs,  he  can  explain 
certain  inconsistencies  of  the  apostles  by  remem- 
bering his  own  inconstancies.  I  confess  that  I 
have  had  many  an  enthusiasm. 

When  I  have  seen  a  bloodlike  Laverack,  say 


22  The  Sporting  Dog 

Queen's  Place  Pride,  sumptuous  among  her  sis- 
ters as  the  star-gowned  maiden  of  the  fairy  tale, 
I  have  felt  that  a  gentleman's  instinctive  love  of 
unexceptionable  appointments  should  weed  all 
other  kinds  from  his  shooting  establishment. 

If  I  happen  to  watch  the  work  of  pointers  like 
Cuba  Jr.,  Alford's  John,  or  Alpine  Lad,  possess- 
ing nearly  all  of  the  best  setter  qualities  and  some 
advantages  of  their  own,  I  can  believe  that  setters 
will  disappear  and  leave  the  shooting  field  to 
these  Americans  of  the  coat  that  never  comes 
off. 

Then  it  may  be  Marie's  Sport,  the  Llewellin, 
structured  of  steel  splinters,  born  a  hunter  and  a 
leader,  charged  with  vitality  and  character;  and 
I  predict  that  this  is  the  type  which  sportsmen 
will  cause  to  outlive  all  the  rest  through  the  selec- 
tion of  the  fittest. 

But  if  it  is  Mohawk,  another  Llewellin,  I  see 
last,  he  makes  the  impression  —  stripped  of 
superfluities,  lithe  as  an  otter,  quick  as  a  ferret, 
tireless  as  Mahomet's  mare.  He  almost  per- 
suades me  that  he  is  the  finished  product,  the 
summation  of  improvement. 

Irish  setter  men  and  Gordon  men  have  their 
sufficient  grounds  of  choice  and  their  satisfactions. 
Perfected  form  and  color  are  more  than  barren 
elaborations  of  breeding  effort.  They  do  not 
appeal  to  you,  maybe,  or  to  me.     But  the  connois- 


Shooting  Breeds  23 

seur's  pleasure  over  them  is  healthy,  and  the 
sportsman  can,  with  either  Irish  or  Gordon,  find 
both  game  and  his  own  sort  of  pride.  Who 
knows  that  you  and  I  will  not  be  seized  next  week 
with  the  Gordon  or  Irish  fever? 

It  is  the  philosopher's  best  message  that  intol- 
erance is  only  a  name  for  ignorance;  that  only 
those  who  have  nothing  to  change  never  change 
their  minds. 


CHAPTER   III 

POINTER   FAMILIES 

That  nation  is  happiest  which  has  no  history. 
Such  is  the  good  fortune  of  the  pointer.  While 
the  annals  of  that  breed  in  America  are  to  the 
full  as  important  as  those  of  the  setter,  there  are 
few  tales  of  conflict.  The  pointer  men  have  been 
at  unity  in  essentials  from  the  beginning.  There 
have  been  no  quarrels  over  standards  for  the 
bench  and  not  many  discussions  except  among 
partisans  of  individual  dogs.  The  question  of 
color  has  aroused  no  antagonism.  There  is  no 
strife  over  blood  lines  and  families,  since  all 
pointers  of  consequence  descend  practically  from 
the  same  English  sources  and  along  the  same 
channels. 

In  1870  the  pointers,  like  the  setters,  consisted 

of  what  the  writers  choose  to  call  "  natives  "  ;  that 

is,  dogs  descended    from    irregular    importations 

and    different    in    every   locality.      There  were 

many  of  the  solid  liver  color,  and  occasionally  a 

man  took  pride  in  a  specimen  of  the  double-nose 

or  split-nose  variety.     This  miscellaneous  native 

stock    quickly   disappeared    after   the    field    trial 

24 


POINTER.     HEAVY   WEIGHT 

Tioga  Sam.  White-and-black.  By  Plain  Sam-Lady  of  Rush, 
through  Hal  Pointer  and  Plain  Sam.  Field  and  bench  winner. 
Austin,  Mansfield,  Pennsylvania.     Photograph  by  Schreiber. 


King  of  Kent  blood 
Owner,  Mr.  W.  P. 


POINTER.     HEAVY   WEIGHT 

Ripstone.  By  Rip  Rap-Pearl's  Dot.  Full  brother  to  Young  Rip  Rap  and  Dot's 
Pearl.  White-and-black.  Bench  winner  and  field-trial  performer.  King  of  Kent  and 
Trinket's  Bang  blood.     Owner,  Mr.  W.  P.  Austin,  Mansfield,   Pennsylvania.     Photo- 

u   1 o-l :1 


Pointer  Families  25 

pointers  began  to  win  a  reputation.  One  varia- 
tion was  introduced  and  attracted  some  attention 
for  a  few  years,  but  not  much  has  been  heard  of 
it  for  some  time.  This  variation  consisted  of  the 
black  Papes,  imported  from  the  kennel  of  Mr. 
Pape  of  Newcastle,  England.  They  were  hand- 
some dogs  and  of  considerable  quality,  but  for 
some  reason  did  not  appeal  to  American  breeders. 
I  can  recall  only  one  dog  of  that  blood  which  com- 
peted successfully  against  the  prevailing  strains. 
That  was  Mr.  Scudder's  Rank.  He  was  black 
and  his  dam  was  a  Pape,  but  his  sire  was  the  well- 
known  Croxteth  pointer,  Maximus,  so  that,  after 
all,  his  moderate  success  in  the  field  trials  can  be 
claimed  as  much  for  Croxteth  as  for  the  Papes. 

Pointer  history  is  marked  by  two  epochs.  The 
first  was  the  importation  of  a  series  of  large  and 
handsome  dogs  by  the  groups  around  the  West- 
minster Kennel  Club  of  New  York  and  the  St. 
Louis  Kennel  Club  in  the  West,  though  Croxteth, 
the  most  serviceable,  perhaps,  of  that  lot  of  im- 
portations, did  not  belong  to  either  of  these  groups. 
The  second  epoch  began  when  Edward  Dexter  of 
Boston  and  Captain  McMurdo,  his  adviser  and 
handler,  brought  over  and  bred  from  Mainspring, 
King  of  Kent,  and  Mainspring's  sister.  Hops ; 
dogs  of  handier  size,  more  snappy  on  birds  and 
of  better  sustained  speed. 

The   dogs  of  both   these   epochs  were  of  the 


26  The  Sporting  Dog 

same  English  field  trial  blood,  the  principal  com- 
ponents of  which  were  Whitehouse  s  celebrated 
lemon-and-white  Hamlet,  that  dog's  grandson, 
Price's  Champion  Bang,  Sir  Richard  Garth's 
Drake,  and  Lord  Sefton's  Sam.  Some  antiqua- 
rians talk  of  the  Edge  blood  and  the  Sefton-Edge 
combination,  but  that  is  mere  pedantry  and,  while 
interesting,  is  of  no  material  importance.  Of 
considerably  more  significance  is  the  Devonshire 
blood,  through  Dr.  Salter's  Romp,  which  entered 
into  the  breeding  of  Mainspring  and  Hops. 
From  an  article  by  Mr.  H.  S.  Bevan,  whose 
relatives  were  connected  with  the  handling  of 
Dr.  Salter's  dogs,  I  gather  that  the  black-and- 
white  color,  with  irregular  ticking,  came  into  Mr. 
Dexter's  kennel  from  Princess  Kate,  through  this 
same  Romp.  Prior  to  the  appearance  here  of 
Rip  Rap,  the  black-and-white  color,  as  once  in 
England,  had  been  unfashionable  to  such  an 
extent  that  its  appearance  was  hailed  as  evidence 
of  impure  blood,  but  Rip  Rap's  transcendent 
merit  made  the  color  actually  fashionable,  and  so 
quickly  that  nobody  had  a  chance  to  argue  about 
it.  From  that  time  to  this  the  black-and-white, 
lemon-and-white,  and  liver-and-white  have  been 
of  equal  dignity. 

Sensation,  a  large  and  very  handsome  dog,  was 
imported  by  the  Westminster  Kennel  Club.  He 
was,  both  in  looks  and  in  pointing  ability,  a  supe- 


Pointer  Families  27 

rior  dog,  but  had  not  the  decision  and  snap  in  his 
bird  work  which  the  field  trials  required.  In  the 
production  of  field  trial  quality  he  was  by  no 
means  equal  to  the  smaller  dog,  subsequently 
imported  by  the  same  club.  Bang  Bang,  an  orange- 
and-white  son  of  Price's  Champion  Bang.  Bang 
Bang  sired  Consolation,  Roger  Williams,  and 
other  winners  notable  both  in  the  field  and  on 
the  bench.  By  the  late  J.  M.  Tracy,  the  famous 
animal  painter,  Consolation  was  regarded  as  the 
most  exquisitely  proportioned  pointer  ever  seen 
in  America. 

In  1879  the  Rev.  Mr.  Macdona  brought  over 
his  young  dog,  Croxteth,  and  sold  him  to  Mr. 
Godeffroy  of  New  York.  Croxteth  was  a  large, 
long-bodied,  liver-and-white  dog  of  fast  gait,  but 
not  what  would  be  called  handy  in  action.  He 
had  a  peculiarly  long  and  narrow  head  which  was 
by  the  old-timers  discussed  considerably  pro  and 
con.  Like  the  "  Sefton  head "  it  had  both  ad- 
mirers and  critics,  but  the  debate  was  mild  and 
did  not  last  long.  As  a  progenitor  Croxteth 
easily  outclassed  all  of  the  early  large  dogs.  His 
son,  Trinket's  Bang,  is  still  held  by  some  handlers 
to  have  been  the  best  field  pointer  put  down  in 
American  trials.  Another  son,  Ossian,  was  a 
frequent  winner.  Robert  le  Diable,  a  third,  was 
esteemed  the  handsomest  pointer  of  his  day  and 
was    a    successful   dog   in   the  field.      Trinket's 


28  The  Sporting  Dog 

Bang,  in  his  turn,  became  a  great  sire,  producing 
Spotted  Boy  and  other  briUiant  winners,  and 
Pearl's  Dot,  herself  a  Derby  winner  and  the 
greatest  pointer  matron  of  all  time. 

Among  the  potent  pointer  movements  was  the 
old  St.  Louis  Kennel  Club,  composed  of  Charles 
H.  Turner,  E.  C.  Sterling,  John  W.  Munson, 
Charles  C.  Mafifitt,  J.  B.  C.  Lucas,  and  other  influ- 
ential sportsmen.  Their  first  importation  was  the 
very  fast,  high-class  field  dog,  Sleaford.  He  did 
not  entirely  please  his  owners,  and  in  1878  they 
brought  over  Champion  Bow,  a  son  of  Price's 
Bang.  In  1879  Mr.  Turner  imported  the  hand- 
somest large  pointer  of  the  period,  the  well-known 
liver-and-white  Faust,  by  Lord  Sefton's  Sam. 
Faust  was  the  admiration  of  all  pointer  men  in 
his  combination  of  high  quality  with  size  and 
substance.  Dr.  Rowe  once  told  me  that  in  the 
mere  matter  of  intelligence  in  handling  birds 
Faust  was  the  best  pointer  he  had  ever  seen.  In 
1 88 1  the  St.  Louis  people  imported  their  first 
small  pointer,  Meteor.  While  small  compared 
with  a  dog  like  Faust,  he  would  be  to-day  a  good- 
sized  dog.  He  was  beautifully  balanced,  but  had 
the  defect  of  a  shallow  head  with  high  set  ears, 
and  after  his  sensational  defeat  of  Beaufort  on 
the  bench  the  friends  of  the  latter  dog  grum- 
bled a  great  deal  about  the  "common"  Meteor 
head.     Meteor  did  very  well  in  the  stud,  siring 


Pointer  Families  29 

among  others  the  field  trial  winner,  Cornerstone, 
he  the  sire  of  Judge  Guinotte's  winner,  Bertraldo. 

The  Eastern  men  continued  to  import  some 
large  dogs.  One  of  the  handsomest  was  Graphic, 
a  beautiful  liver-and-white  dog,  a  little  long  in  the 
body  but  with  fine  chest  and  with  a  head  as  long 
and  shapely  as  that  of  the  best  setters.  His  son. 
Lad  of  Bow,  was  a  still  more  showy  and  impressive 
dog. 

The  New  York  show  of  1889  probably  pre- 
sented the  finest  collection  of  pointers  ever  seen 
on  the  bench  in  this  country  and  is  interesting 
in  history  as  having  brought  together  the  dogs 
of  the  first  and  second  epochs  — the  meeting  kiss 
of  the  old  and  the  new.  The  pointer  men  had 
always  avoided  one  cause  of  dispute  by  divid- 
ing their  dogs  into  classes  on  the  bench  —  light 
weights  and  heavy  weights.  In  this  show  appeared 
Bang  Bang,  Graphic,  Lad  of  Bow,  Bracket,  Beppo 
II,  Rumor,  Duke  of  Vernon,  Brake,  and  Pontiac. 
Among  the  light-weight  dogs  were  King  of  Kent 
and  Duke  of  Hessen,  two  dogs  which  figured  in 
the  revolution  of  field  trial  pointers  and  are  now 
constantly  found  in  the  studbook  pedigrees.  With 
eighteen  in  the  light-weight  class.  King  of  Kent 
was  first  and  Duke  of  Hessen  second.  Speci- 
mens of  the  other  sex  in  that  show  were  Meally, 
Bloomo,  Revel  III,  Queen  Fan,  Lass  of  Bow,  and 
Sally  Brass  II. 


30  The  Sporting  Dog 

A  field  dog  which  about  this  time  began  to 
mark  the  new  era  was  Tammany.  He  died  com- 
paratively young,  but  made  an  impression  by  his 
courageous,  decisive,  and  snappy  work  in  the  field. 
Another  dog  of  high  class  in  the  field  was  Van- 
dervort's  Don,  an  imported  son  of  Price's  Bang, 
whose  achievements  were  chronicled  in  the 
Northwest,  chiefly  on  prairie  chicken,  though  he 
was  owned  in  Pittsburg. 

All  this  time  there  had  been  a  good  deal  of 
bitterness  among  the  pointer  owners  on  account 
of  what  they  claimed  was  discrimination  against 
them  in  field  trials  by  the  judges  who  were  sup- 
posed to  be  wedded  to  the  Llewellin  setter.  There 
may  have  been  a  reason  for  this  grievance,  but  it 
is  likely  that  the  trouble  was  with  the  dogs.  At 
least  there  was  never  much  more  of  that  talk  after 
Mr.  Dexter  and  Captain  McMurdo  brought  out 
their  field  trial  pointers.  Mainspring,  by  Salter's 
Champion  Mike  out  of  Romp,  was  a  dog  which 
had  all  the  courage  and  decision  of  crack  setters, 
and  speed  to  compete  with  even  the  best  of  them. 
He  and  many  of  his  progeny  had  a  little  defect  of 
style  in  hunting  with  rather  low  head.  Count 
Fauster,  Spring  and  Castleman's  Rex  were  some 
of  his  winning  sons. 

King  of  Kent  was  a  very  fast  dog  of  the  same 
dashing  and  courageous  quality.  Mainspring's 
sister,     Hops,    was    brought    from    Dr.    Salter's 


POINTER.     GLENHEIGH    BLOOD 

Cuba,  Jr.  By  Cuba  of  Kenwood-Florida.  Bred  in  California.  Liver-and-white. 
Winner  in  important  Eastern  field  trials  and  several  times  on  the  bench  before  he  was 
three  years  old.  Medium  weight.  Owned  by  Stockdale  Kennels,  Bakersfield,  Cali- 
fornia. A  dog  of  particularly  responsive  disposition  and  pleasant  manners.  A  favorite 
among  sportsmen  of  all  tastes. 


POINTER.     HEAVY   WEIGHT 

Champion  Meteor's  Dot  II.  By  Meteor's  Dot-Buda.  Liver-and-white.  Bench 
champion.  Owners.  Mr.  W.  T.  Payne,  Kingston,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mr.  Ben  Lewis, 
Lansdowne,  Pennsylvania.  Called  by  some  bench  judges  too  light  in  head  and  bone 
for  a  heavy  weight,  but  a  dog  of  symmetry  and  beauty.  No  field-trial  record.  Photo- 
graph by  Schreiber. 


Pointer  Families  31 

kennel  by  Captain  McMurdo,  and  to  King  of 
Kent  produced  the  phenomenal  Rip  Rap  and  his 
younger  sister,  the  beautiful  little  liver-and-white 
Maid  of  Kent.  Both  of  these  dogs  competed  on 
equal  terms  with  the  best  setters  and  beat  them  as 
often  as  not.  Rip  Rap  decisively  defeated  Rowdy 
Rod,  the  best  Derby  setter  of  1890 ;  and  conquered 
all  criticism  in  1891  by  a  famous  four-hour  heat 
in  what  was  equivalent  to  a  championship  stake, 
which  he  ran  with  a  high-class  Count  Noble  setter 
called  Count  Eric.  Maid  of  Kent  met  the  Llew- 
ellin,  Antonio,  in  the  last  heat  of  the  same 
stake,  and  many  thought  that  she  thoroughly  out- 
worked him,  though  he  obtained  the  decision. 
From  Mr.  Dexter's  kennel  appeared  in  succession 
Tapster,  Zig  Zag,  Selah,  Delhi,  and  Khartoum, 
along  the  same  line  of  breeding. 

Pearl's  Dot,  the  unequalled  mother  of  heroes, 
was  by  Trinket's  Bang  out  of  Pearlstone.  After 
winning  a  Derby  in  Indiana,  she  was  sent  to 
the  breeding  ranks,  and  achieved  so  much  that 
her  name  is  likely  to  appear  in  almost  as  many 
pointer  pedigrees  as  that  of  old  Rhoebe  among 
the  setters.  To  King  of  Kent  she  produced 
Strideaway;  to  Jingo,  Young  Jingo;  to  Rip  Rap, 
the  black-and-white  Young  Rip  Rap,  Ripstone, 
and  Dot's  Pearl ;  Pearl's  Fan  is  a  half-sister. 
Dot's  Pearl,  owned  by  Mr.  Turner  in  Chicago,  be- 
came the  worthy  successor  of  her  mother.     She 


32  The  Sporting  Dog 

was  a  large  and  handsome  liver-and-white  bitch. 
Bred  to  Jingo  when  very  young,  she  produced 
in  two  litters  Lad  of  Jingo,  Dot's  Jingo,  Drill- 
master,  Dot's  Daisy,  Two  Spot,  and  Jingo's  Pearl. 
These  dogs  were  all  winners  and  are  rapidly  be- 
coming producers;  the  misfortune  being  that 
some  of  the  best  died  early. 

Jingo  was  by  Mainspring  out  of  Queen  II. 
He  was  developed  by  Captain  McMurdo,  but 
did  his  later  running  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Nesbitt, 
still  to-day  a  prominent  handler.  Nearly  all 
pointer  men  and  a  great  many  setter  owners 
claim  that  Jingo  had  bird  sense  to  a  degree 
beyond  that  displayed  by  any  other  field  dog. 
He  ran  successfully  in  important  trials  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  country.  He  has  produced  an 
astonishing  number  of  winners  in  the  first  and 
second  generation,  including  Young  Jingo  from 
Pearl's  Dot,  the  great  orange-and-white  dog  King 
Cyrano,  Gorham's  Jing,  Jingo's  Light,  and  any 
number  of  others.  Doc's  Light,  the  three  times 
Derby  winner  in  1 900-1 901,  is  a  grandson;  as 
is  Percival  Jingo,  another  lemon-and-white,  the 
Interstate  Championship  winner  of  1902.  An- 
other grandson  is  Alpine  Lad,  a  successful  dog 
in  both  his  Derby  and  all-age  form. 

In  connection  with  the  light-weight  dogs  which 
modified  the  pointer,  Duke  of  Hessen  is  of 
enough   importance   to    be   specially  mentioned. 


Pointer  Families  23 

He  was  a  good-looking  liver-and-white  dog,  well 
made  except  that  he  was  much  more  leggy  than 
the  original  conception  of  the  bench  show  judges 
approved.  He  was  the  fastest  pointer  of  his  time, 
but  w^as  not  equal  to  either  King  of  Kent  or 
Mainspring  in  his  ability  on  birds. 

A  famous  son  of  King  of  Kent  was  K.  C.  Kent, 
owned  by  Mr.  Fernkas  of  Kansas  City  and 
winner  of  the  first  stake  opened  by  the  Missouri 
Field  Trial  Club.  He  was  a  large  liver-and-white 
dog  of  fine  style  and  good  looks.  Hal  Pointer, 
another  large  and  muscular  liver-and-white  dog, 
continued  the  King  of  Kent  blood  through  Plain 
Sam  and  other  sons  and  daughters.  Tick  Boy 
and   Kent  Elgin  were  rattling  good  field  dogs. 

In  1888  Mr.  Huston  Wyeth  of  St.  Joseph, 
Missouri,  imported  the  black-and-white  Derby 
winner,  Osborne  Ale.  This  dog,  curiously  enough, 
was  bred  almost  exactly  like  the  cross  with  which 
Mr.  Dexter  and  Captain  McMurdo  afterward  at- 
tained such  distinguished  success.  He  was  by 
Priam,  the  sire  of  King  of  Kent,  out  of  Malt, 
a  sister  of  Hops.  Mr.  Wyeth  made  no  attempt 
to  push  the  fortunes  of  this  dog  and,  though  Ale 
sired  a  number  of  excellent  pointers,  he  did  not 
attain  the  reputation  which  probably  he  deserved. 
He  resembled  Rip  Rap  closely  in  color  and  size. 
Mr.  Franke,  also  of  St.  Joseph,  imported  another 
English  winner,  Luck  of  the  Goat.     This  dog  is 


34  The  Sporting  Dog 

best  known  in  history  as  the  sire  of  Pearl's  Fan, 
she  the  dam  of  K.  C.  Kent  and  Blackstone,  the 
latter  a  black-and-white  winner  on  the  bench  and 
in  the  field. 

After  the  dazzling  success  of  the  Dexter  dogs, 
there  was  not  much  effort  in  the  way  of  impor- 
tation. Home  talent  was  good  enough.  Occa- 
sionally a  winner  out  of  old-fashioned  lines,  like 
Lad  of  Rush,  would  come  out.  He  was  a  liver- 
and-white  dog  and  a  grandson  of  Lad  of  Bow. 
But  the  overwhelming  majority  of  pointers  in  the 
hands  of  active  sportsmen,  as  well  as  of  field  trial 
handlers,  soon  began  to  carry  the  blood  of  Main- 
spring and  King  of  Kent,  chiefly  through  Jingo 
and  Rip  Rap. 

Among  the  variations  from  the  usual  course  of 
things  should  be  mentioned  Champion  Alberta 
Joe,  a  magnificent  liver-and-white  dog,  bred  and 
brought  out  by  Mr.  Thomas  Johnson  of  Winni- 
peg, Manitoba.  In  1898  he  won  the  North- 
western Club's  championship.  Joe  may  be  called 
an  outer  line,  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  he  is  bred 
practically  the  same  as  the  other  prominent 
American  pointers.  His  sire  and  dam  were 
both  brought  by  Mr.  Johnson  from  Mr.  Hey  wood 
Lonsdale's  English  kennel  and  trace  back  directly 
to  Bang,  Sam,  and  Drake  like  the  resto 

An  orange-and-white  dog  which  may  hereafter 
achieve  some  status  as  a  cross  for  the  Jingo  and 


Pointer  Families  35 

Rip  Rap  dogs  is  Senator  P.  He  won  two  cham- 
pionships, one  on  the  Pacific  coast  and  one  in 
Manitoba.  He  is  descended  from  the  English 
leading  families  through  California  lines  different 
from  those  of  the  favorite  Americans.  Senator 
P.  is  a  good-looking  dog  and  a  sterling  field  trial 
performer,  though  he  scarcely  ranks  in  brilliance 
with  the  greatest. 

A  recent  English  importation  is  Sally  Brass, 
an  extremely  stylish  and  merry  little  pointer  which 
won  a  place  in  the  Eastern  Club  trials  of  1901 
and  aroused  the  warmest  encomiums  on  account 
of  her  attractive  style,  though  her  speed  was  not 
exactly  first  class.  She  was  brought  over  by  Mr. 
S.  C.  Bradley  for  Mr.  George  Crocker,  those  two 
gentlemen  having  a  theory  that  they  can  make 
some  new  history  with  both  pointer  and  setter 
blood  from  England. 

One  of  the  standing  discontents  of  a  busy  man 
is  that  he  cannot  attend  many  field  trials.  These 
interesting  rivalries  bring  together  bird  dogs  of 
chosen  powers,  and,  as  no  two  of  the  trial  grounds 
are  just  alike  in  topography  and  cover,  he  who 
wishes  to  understand  all  the  merits  and  defects 
of  great  dogs  would  like  to  see  as  often  as  pos- 
sible the  running  of  stake  events.  Among  my 
regrets  on  this  score  is  that  I  never  saw  Rip  Rap 
in  the  field.  On  the  bench  he  was  a  specimen  to 
attract  a  sportsman   rather  than  a  fancier.     He 


^6  The  Sporting  Dog 

was  of  just  the  right  size  for  our  American  shoot- 
ing, not  large  enough  to  carry  extra  lumber  and 
not  too  small  for  strength.  Like  many  other 
dogs  which  are  enthusiastic  and  courageous  in 
the  field,  he  was  quiet  and  undemonstrative  in 
the  kennel  and  on  the  bench.  His  white,  black, 
and  ticked  coat  was  a  trifle  rougher  than  that  of 
the  usual  bench  show  pointer  and  lacked  the  sat- 
iny finish  which  the  old  pointer  breeders  regarded 
as  essential.  He  looked  all  over  a  hard,  strong, 
wise  hunter.  When  I  saw  him,  Robert  le  Dia- 
ble,  the  greatest  product  of  the  St.  Louis  Kennel 
Club's  breeding,  was  also  on  the  benches.  He 
was  a  much  more  showy  animal  than  Rip  Rap, 
liver-and- white  with  thick  ticking.  Being  in  the 
challenge  class,  he  did  not  come  into  competition 
with  Rip  Rap,  but  would  have  beaten  him,  I  sup- 
pose, under  any  bench  judge,  if  they  had  been  of 
the  same  weight  and  in  the  same  ring. 

Mr.  George  J.  Gould  exhibited  for  two  or  three 
seasons  a  kennel  of  pointers,  which,  in  1897,  in- 
cluded Lady  Gay  Spanker,  Miss  Rumor,  Fur- 
lough Mike  and  others.  Lady  Gay  Spanker  was 
held  to  be  the  best  of  her  sex  on  the  bench  at  that 
time.  Mr.  Gould  used  his  pointers  in  his  shoot- 
ing expeditions,  and  they  were  by  no  means  mere 
exhibition  dogs  or  playthings. 

Meteor's  Dot  H,  now  holding  the  honors  of  a 
championship,  had    an    eventful    history   on    the 


Pointer  Families  37 

bench.  He  is  a  handsome  liver-and-white  heavy- 
weight dog  of  great  style  and  symmetry.  In  his 
younger  days  when  I  saw  him,  some  of  the  judges 
called  him  a  little  leggy,  but  he  probably  filled 
out  afterward.  He  was  owned  by  Major  A.  J. 
Ross  of  Dallas,  Texas,  and  travelled  on  the  bench 
until  he  came  into  the  possession  of  Messrs.  Lewis 
and  Payne  of  Pennsylvania.  In  competition  at 
the  St.  Louis  show  of  1899,  he  was  beaten  by  the 
New  York  dog.  Sir  Walter,  but  I  thought  he  suf- 
fered a  little  the  worst  of  it  through  judicial  over- 
conscientiousness.  The  judge  was  a  personal 
friend  of  Major  Ross  and  seemed  to  lean  too 
much  on  the  side  of  scrupulousness.  At  that  time, 
whatever  Sir  Walter  may  before  have  been,  he  was 
not  the  equal  of  Dot,  as  he  had  become  throaty  and 
loose,  while  Dot  was  in  the  pink  of  condition. 

Without  attracting  any  great  amount  of  atten- 
tion or  exciting  any  heated  debate,  the  modern 
pointers,  even  on  the  bench,  seem  to  have  made 
a  racial  change  and  become  short-headed  in  com- 
parison with  the  old-time  champions.  It  is  rare 
now  to  see  a  pointer  as  clean  and  long  in  the 
head  as  were  most  of  the  winners  twenty  years 
ago.  Of  course,  at  no  time  was  a  pointer  ex- 
pected to  have  the  long,  lean  setter  head,  though 
there  was  a  day  when  the  best  specimens  on  the 
bench  had  cleaner  and  more  shapely  heads  than 
are  now  usual     The  change  has  probably  come 


38  The  Sporting  Dog 

from  the  influence  of  the  field  trial  winners ;  dogs 
which,  from  their  compact  shape,  naturally  have 
a  tendency  to  thickness  in  the  head. 

Perhaps  the  most  extreme  example  of  the  de- 
parture of  field  trial  pointers  from  the  old  bench 
show  fancy  is  Jingo's  Light,  himself  a  trial  winner 
and  sire  of  Champion  Percival  Jingo.  Light  is 
also  recognized  as  the  correct  cross  for  Rip  Rap 
and  other  King  of  Kent  blood,  he  being  Main- 
spring, Duke  of  Hessen,  Croxteth,  and  Naso  of 
Kippen  blood,  with  no  line  to  King  of  Kent. 
He  is  small,  thick  in  cheek,  white  with  lemon 
spots  only  on  the  ears,  and  has  ears  set  high. 
It  looks  as  if  there  might  be  trouble  ahead  on 
the  benches  over  pointer  type;  maybe  the  Eng- 
lish setter  battle  repeated. 

Much  better  in  bench  type  are  two  young 
liver-and-white  dogs,  out  in  the  past  two  seasons, 
Alford's  John  and  Alpine  Lad.  John  was  the 
most  successful  Derby  dog  of  1 902-1 903,  and  this 
season  has  shown  all  his  promised  speed  and 
bird  work  among  all-age  competitors.  He  is  of 
the  older  lines  of  blood,  his  sire  line  being 
Graphic  and  his  dam  going  back  to  Croxteth. 
Alpine  Lad  is  of  the  Jingo-Dot's  Pearl  family  in 
the  second  generation.  In  both  the  prairie  chicken 
and  quail  trials  of  1903  John  performed  better  than 
any  other  pointer,  and  must  at  the  moment  be 
placed  at  the  head  of  his  breed. 


Pointer  Families  39 

In  the  East  the  breeders  are  still  ahead  in  bench 
form.  Mr.  Throckmorton's  Champion  Duke  of 
York  and  Island  Boy,  and  Mr.  Mott's  Princess 
Alice,  can,  the  chances  are,  beat  anything  now  in 
the  West,  as  Mr.  Westlake's  Belle  and  Startle 
almost  certainly  can,  while  Lansdowne  Malt 
would  have  no  trouble  at  all  in  a  Western  show 
with  anything  put  down  lately. 

The  last  word  about  pointer  families  is  sug- 
gested by  the  chicken  trials  in  the  Northwest  this 
fall  (1903).  One  prominent  figure  has  been  Lad 
of  Jingo.  He  has  been  himself  placed  several 
times,  though  an  old  dog  for  trial  work.  The 
feature,  however,  has  been  the  winning  perform- 
ances of  his  progeny.  Lad's  Meally,  Alpine  Lad, 
and  Copper  Coin  have  all  been  winners  against 
large  fields  of  the  best  dogs  in  training.  At  the 
Huron  (Dakota)  trials.  Coin  and  Meally  were 
third  and  fourth  in  a  Derby  stake  of  twenty-six 
starters,  pointers  and  setters;  while  Lad  of  Jingo 
was  third  and  Alpine  Lad  fourth  in  the  all-age 
stake  of  thirty  starters,  including  many  previous 
winners.  Mr.  Austin  has  been  firm  in  his  faith 
about  Lad  in  spite  of  some  hard  luck,  and  it  is 
good  for  sport  that  a  great  bird  dog  is  getting  the 
fame  he  always  deserved.  Young  Rip  Rap,  too, 
has  been  fulfilling  expectations  by  the  winnings 
of  Rap's  Pointer  and  Speck's  Jingo  Boy  at  these 
chicken  trials. 


CHAPTER   IV 

ENGLISH    SETTER   QUESTIONS 

Discussion  of  the  English  setter  in  America 
would  be  a  history  of  several  volumes  if  all  the 
records  and  comments  about  strains  and  individ- 
ual dogs  were  set  forth  in  a  way  to  satisfy  every- 
body who  has  taken  an  interest  in  the  subject. 
For  the  purposes  of  this  book  it  will  be  enough 
to  briefly  review  the  facts  which  are  so  familiar  to 
experts  as  to  have  become  commonplaces.  The 
chief  characteristics  of  the  breed  remain  as  they 
have  been  so  often  described  by  Stonehenge  and 
other  English  writers. 

It  is  color  which,  to  the  ordinary  eye,  differ- 
entiates the  English  from  the  Irish  and  Gordon 
setters  as  well  as  from  a  great  deal  of  what  has 
been  known  as  "  native  stock."  There  is  one  and 
only  one  fundamental  law  of  color  which  can  be 
applied  without  qualification  to  the  English  setter. 
It  is  that  the  marking  consists  of  a  white  ground, 
upon  which  may  appear  small  spots  or  large 
patches  of  any  of  the  recognized  colors.  These 
are  black,  lemon,  orange,  liver,  and  tan.  The 
solid  white  or  black  or  liver  sometimes  appears, 

40 


English  Setter  Qitestions  41 

and  solid  orange  rarely.  No  solid  color  is  favored 
or  very  frequent.  It  should  be  said  that  tan  and 
orange  or  lemon  are  practically  the  same.  Dark 
tan  is  orange  and  light  tan  is  lemon.  It  is  usually 
called  tan  only  when  it  comes  in  company  with 
black.  That  is,  a  dog  is  orange  and  white  when 
there  is  no  black  marking.  He  is  white,  black, 
and  tan  when  the  orange  color  shades  the  black 
markings,  or  appears  in  small  spots  on  a  prevail- 
ing marking  of  black  and  white.  Belton,  which 
not  a  few  Americans  in  some  way  believe  to  be  a 
strain,  is,  of  course,  only  a  color.  It  consists  of 
black,  orange,  or  lemon  scattered  in  small  spots  or 
splashes  over  a  white  ground.  If  both  black  and 
orange  "  freckling  "  appear,  the  term  "  blue  belton 
and  tan  "  is  commonly  used.  If  the  "  freckling  "  is 
of  one  color,  it  is  blue  belton  or  orange  belton. 

These  English  setter  colors  constitute  a  ground 
of  industrious,  if  not  profitable,  dispute  on  ac- 
count of  the  supposed  relations  of  peculiar  colors 
to  the  Llewellin  stock  which  is  paramount  among 
the  English  setters  developed  in  America  during 
the  past  thirty  years.  For  the  information  of 
those  who  are  just  beginning  to  study  the  subject, 
it  should  be  said  that  the  claims  of  color  advo- 
cates have  no  particular  support  in  history  and 
not  much  practical  logic,  but  undoubtedly  come 
under  the  head  of  influential  fashions  and  are  not 
to   be   disregarded.      In    America    the   common 


42  The  Sporting  Dog 

assertion  and  belief  are  that  white,  black  and  tan 
is  the  correct  and  typical  Llewellin  color.  Mr. 
Llewellin  himself,  and  his  relative  and  associate, 
Mr.  Teasdale-Buckeli,  have  strenuously  objected 
to  the  drawing  of  a  color  line.  In  an  urgent  pro- 
test a  few  years  ago  Mr.  Llewellin  pointed  out 
that  a  decided  majority  of  his  best  setters  were 
either  blue  belton  or  lemon  belton.  It  might  be 
said  here  in  passing  that  he  also  remarked  the 
presence  of  black  noses  and  dark  eyes  in  all  his 
lemon  and  blue  beltons.  Among  the  blue  beltons 
he  mentioned  Count  Wind'em,  the  best  dog  he 
ever  bred ;  and  among  the  lemon-and-whites 
Countess  Bear,  perhaps  the  handsomest  bitch. 
Old  Rhoebe  was  heavily  marked  white-black-tan ; 
and  Brewis's  Dash  II,  which  he  bought  at  a 
high  price  and  introduced  into  his  kennel  as  an 
outcross,  was  a  blue  belton  with  tan  shadings. 
But  Mr.  Llewellin  says  that  he  regarded  the  tan 
markings  as  a  second-rate  color  when  judged  by 
a  preponderance  of  the  best  dogs  in  his  own 
kennel. 

On  this  side  of  the  water,  though  all  the  advan- 
tages have  operated  in  favor  of  the  white-black- 
tan  through  strong  and  almost  universal  prejudice, 
it  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  the  orange- 
and-whites  and  lemon-and-whites  have  played  an 
important  part  even  among  the  "  straight-bred " 
Llewellins.       The    first    championship    trial    of 


English  Setter  Questions  43 

the  Interstate  Association  in  1901  brought  out 
a  card  of  high-class  pointers  and  setters,  most 
of  the  setters  being  white-black-tan.  Yet  the 
three  placed  dogs  were  lemon-and-white  setters 
of  Llewellin  ancestry.  They  were  Sport's  Boy, 
winner  and  champion,  Ortiz  Lad  and  Count 
Whitestone.  This  was  in  190 1.  In  1902  one 
of  the  most  successful  dogs  in  the  state  trials 
during  the  autumn  was  Rodfield's  Pride  (Cow- 
ley's), another  orange-and-white  Llewellin.  Pin 
Money,  a  frequent  winner  for  many  seasons  for 
the  Charlottesville  kennel,  was  a  blue  belton,  and 
her  sister.  Belle  of  Hard  Bargain,  was  orange-and- 
white.  Of  course,  an  ancestress  of  these  two 
bitches,  Daisy  Hunter,  was  not  a  straight-bred 
Llewellin,  but  the  blood  of  the  Llewellins  so  pre- 
ponderated in  their  pedigree  that  the  color  of 
Belle  of  Hard  Bargain  is  quite  as  likely  to  have 
been  drawn  from  the  Llewellin  side  as  from  the 
other. 

Mr.  Buckell  holds  that  the  belton  color,  either 
blue  or  orange,  is  indicative  of  what  he  calls  the 
feminine  side  of  the  Llewellin,  while  the  larger 
area  of  black  patches  and  spots  with  or  without 
tan  indicates  the  more  rugged,  aggressive,  and 
masculine  type.  This  would  seem  to  be  specula- 
tion, and  yet  all  of  us  must  admit  that  in  expe- 
rience it  seems  to  have  some  foundation.  For 
example,  the  most  admired  dogs  in  the  remark- 


44  The  Sporting  Dog 

able  Lady's  Count  Gladstone-Jessie  Rodfield 
family  up  to  this  date  have  been  Prince  Rodney 
and  Count  Whitestone.  Count  is  a  delicately 
marked  lemon  belton.  Prince  Rodney  is  a 
strongly  marked  white-black-tan.  Unquestion- 
ably Prince  is  the  more  masculine  of  the  two  dogs, 
not  only  in  size  and  appearance,  but  in  rugged- 
ness  and  aggressiveness  of  character.  It  does 
seem  as  if  this  example  of  two  brothers  had  a 
certain  representative  value,  since  a  majority  of 
the  successful  Llewellins  of  the  masculine  type 
have  been  strongly  marked  with  black  and  have 
had  conspicuous  tan  shadings.  Yet,  on  the  other 
side,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  Dora,  the  bitch 
which  introduced  so  much  of  the  feminine  quality 
that  breeders  hastened  to  overcome  it,  was  rough 
looking  and  heavily  marked  with  black ;  her 
handsomer  son,  Druid,  having  the  same  amiable 
and  docile  "feminine"  attributes.  History  does  not 
seem  yet  to  have  proved,  though  it  may  suggest, 
that  color  is  a  mark  of  distinction  between  what 
the  faddists  call  the  masculine  and  the  feminine 
types  any  more  than  it  is  a  legitimate  distinction  of 
the  Llewellin  strain.  However,  the  amateur  must 
recognize  the  value  of  a  fashion,  whether  or  not 
it  is  founded  on  facts  and  reason.  White-black- 
tan  is  beyond  any  doubt  at  present  the  recog- 
nized and  fashionable  color  of  the  Llewellins, 
notwithstanding  the  notable  successes  of  orange- 


English  Setter  Qiiestions  45 

and-white  and  lemon-and-white  Llewellins  in  the 
field  trials.  That  Countess  Meteor,  dam  of  the 
star  Derby  performer  of  1 901 -1902,  Mohawk,  is 
lemon-and-white,  and  that  Rodfield  sired  as  many 
of  that  color  as  of  any  other,  are  facts  that  as  yet 
do  not  seem  to  have  affected  the  sentiment  favor- 
ing the  tri-color. 

In  connection  with  the  subject  of  color  there  is 
one  matter  of  not  a  little  consequence  to  the 
practical  sportsman.  A  great  deal  of  quail  shoot- 
ing is  done  in  cover  which  makes  it  difficult  to 
keep  a  busy  dog  in  sight.  Judging  from  my  own 
observation,  I  should  say  that  four-fifths  of  the 
work  dogs  do  on  quail  is  in  cover  of  that  sort. 
In  Maryland  and  Virginia  birds  are  most  plenti- 
ful in  the  neighborhood  of  thickets  and  brushy 
places.  In  the  Indian  Territory  they  are  found 
either  near  "  draws "  and  small  timbered  water 
courses,  or  else  not  far  from  the  patches  of  corn 
which  are  scattered  among  the  pastures  and  cot- 
ton fields.  In  Illinois  and  Missouri  the  same  gen- 
eral character  of  shooting  presents  itself  to  the 
sportsman,  though  the  country  has  a  greater 
area  of  regular  cultivation.  A  dog  heavily 
marked  with  black  is  somewhat  hard  to  follow, 
even  through  the  stubble  and  weeds  in  an  ordi- 
nary season.  In  the  corn-fields  and  thickets  a 
^  dog  of  prevailing  white  color  is  much  more  read- 
ily kept  in  view.     If  a  dog  gets  out  of  sight  and 


46  The  Sporting  Dog 

finds  birds,  the  gun  may  be  kept  idle  for  many 
precious  minutes  just  at  the  time  when  shooting 
luck  would  be  otherwise  at  high  tide.  Most  quail 
shots  will  support  me  when  I  say  that  these 
supreme  shooting  moments  are  very  likely  to 
occur  about  dusk.  This  fact  is,  of  course,  due  to 
the  well-known  habits  of  the  birds.  To  lose  sight 
of  a  dog  at  such  a  moment  means  often  a  profit- 
less day.  The  orange-and-white  dog  has  a  de- 
cided advantage  as  a  self-supplying  signal  of 
whereabouts. 

My  bitch,  Chiquita,  during  the  two  seasons 
w^hen  she  was  under  my  observation,  was  a  fre- 
quent source  of  irritation.  She  was  one  of  the 
greatest  of  bird  finders,  as  field  trial  men  in  the 
central  West  can  attest.  In  truth  she  had  too 
much  of  that  quality  for  comfort,  since  she  was 
more  intent  upon  game  than  upon  the  gun,  and  it 
was  not  an  unusual  thing  for  her  to  disappear  in 
the  direction  of  a  "  birdy "  place,  to  be  found 
after  diligent  search  a  half-hour  later,  stanchly 
holding  a  covey.  The  upper  part  of  her  body 
was  nearly  all  black,  and  one  could  almost  step  on 
her  without  recognition  when  she  was  on  point ; 
especially,  as  like  most  other  dogs,  she  would 
sink  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  ground  the  longer 
she  held  birds.  If  she  got  into  a  corn-field,  with 
its  occasional  stump  and  its  frequent  spots  of 
black  fungus  on  the  stalks,  I  have  known  her  to 


English  Setter  Qitestions  47 

cause  the  waste  of  an  hour  before  the  handler 
could  find  her.  Sure  Shot,  the  fastest  and  widest 
ranger  of  Jessie  Rodfield's  sons,  is  so  heavily 
ticked  that  he  is  almost  a  dark  gray.  He  drops 
on  point.  In  public  trials  his  handler  is  always 
nervous  lest  he  get  out  of  sight,  drop  on  birds 
and  be  thrown  out  by  the  judges  before  he  can 
be  located. 

As  a  converse  proof,  I  remember  seeing  Sport's 
Boy  and  Ortiz  Lad  down  in  very  heavy  cover, 
chiefly  corn-fields  and  high  weeds.  An  orange- 
and-white  dog  for  purposes  of  the  eye  in  the  field 
is  about  the  same  as  if  he  were  pure  white.  These 
two  extremely  fast  and  w^idely  ranging  dogs  could 
be  seen  flitting  through  the  corn  and  weeds 
almost  every  minute  of  the  trial,  when  the  darker 
dogs  in  the  same  stake  were  often  hard  to  follow. 
The  pointer,  King  Cyrano,  and  the  setter,  Rod- 
field's  Pride  (Cowley's),  have  given  me  the  same 
pleasant  experience  when  down  together. 

I  mention  this  advantage  of  the  orange-and- 
white  color,  because  I  regard  it  as  of  genuine 
importance. 

Another  unfashionable  attribute  which  has  a 
useful  function  is  a  fault  charged  with  some  as- 
perity against  the  Llewellins.  It  is  the  tendency 
to  carry  a  high  flag  in  ranging  and  to  take  a  point 
with  the  tail  in  the  same  high  position.  For 
the  same  reason  just  mentioned  in  speaking  of 


48  The  Sporting  Dog 

the  advantage  possessed  by  the  orange-and-v/hite 
color,  the  high  flag  has  a  decided  utiHty  value  to 
the  sportsman.  A  dog  which  carries  its  flag 
high  will  nearly  always  point  with  high  head. 
It  must  be  admitted  that  the  attitude  loses  from 
the  standpoint  of  style  as  compared  with  the 
low  stern  and  more  extended  and  intense  position 
of  the  pointer  and  of  some  setters,  but  a  man 
learns  after  experience  to  rather  fancy  the  up- 
right position  and  high  flag.  As  a  guide  to  the 
eye  it  comes  to  be  regarded  with  indulgence  if 
not  with  decided  favor.  Nearly  all  handlers 
agree,  too,  in  the  belief  that  high  head  and 
stern  in  pointing  are  indicia  of  spirit  and  vigor. 

Recurring  a  moment  to  the  question  of  color, 
it  might  be  said  that  probably  the  American 
preference  for  white-black-tan  is  due  to  the 
fame  with  which  Gladstone  and  Count  Noble 
endowed  it  early  in  the  days  of  public  field  trials. 
Bergundthal's  Rake  and  others  carrying  a  large 
proportion  of  Rhoebe  blood  were  highly  favored. 
Their  descendants  took  on  a  strong  tendency  to 
the  white-black-tan,  and  seem  to  have  been  the 
chief  influences  in  establishing  the  predominance 
of  the  color. 

A  study  of  the  English  setter  in  America  would 
be  imperfect  if  the  superstition  in  favor  of  the 
"  pure  "  or  "  straight-bred  "  Llewellin  were  not 
thrashed  out  in  a  way  to  convey  the  true  state 


English  Setter  Qtiestions  49 

of  the  case  to  sportsmen  generally.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  the  word  "pure"  is  entirely 
misapplied.  There  never  was  and  never  will  be 
such  a  thing  as  a  "  pure  "  Llewellin  in  the  true 
technical  sense  of  the  word  as  it  is  used  in  the 
science  of  breeding.  Nor  is  there  much  more  to 
be  said  in  defence  of  the  term  "  straight-bred  " 
Llewellin.  At  least  the  use  of  the  term  in  the 
effort  to  establish  a  fashion  is  likely  to  depreciate 
the  substantial  value  of  the  Llewellin  blood  and 
to  seriously  mislead  the  younger  generation  of 
sportsmen.  There  was  once  such  a  thing  as  a 
"straight-bred  "  Laverack,  and  even  now  the  bench- 
show  Laveracks  are  much  more  nearly  straight 
bred  than  any  Llewellin  that  ever  lived.  Mr. 
Llewellin  himself  never  made  much  attempt  at 
straight  breeding.  To  be  sure,  he  first  confined 
his  experiments  to  the  Duke-Rhcebe  blood  crossed 
on  straight  Laveracks,  but  he  introduced  Sam 
and  Brewis's  Dash  II  as  outcrosses,  and  in  late 
years  added  blood  which,  though  similar  to  that 
of  his  original  stock,  came  from  totally  different 
lines.  Mr.  Buckell  has  said  recently  that  the 
breeding  of  Dash  II  was  confused,  and  that  the 
dog  was  treated  in  the  Llewellin  kennel  wholly 
as  an  outcross,  evidently  possessing  qualities 
which  did  not  belong  to  the  blood  from  which 
he  was  said  to  have  come. 

There  is  no  definition  of  "  straight-bred  "  Llewel- 


so  The  Sporting  Dog 

lins  which  will  bear  analysis.  The  usual  test  is 
that  of  tracing  back  in  all  lines  to  Duke-Rhoebe 
and  Laverack.  Under  Mr.  Buckell's  estimate 
this  definition  must  shut  out  everything  which 
has  Dash  II  blood;  and  a  student  of  pedigree 
knows  that  such  an  exclusion  would  ostracize  a 
large  number  of  the  most  respected  names  in 
Llewellin  pedigrees.  Others  have  attempted  to 
limit  the  straight-bred  "  Four  Hundred  "  to  pedi- 
grees which  go  straight  to  Mr.  Llewellin's  own 
kennel.  That  test  would  exclude  Bolus's  Belton 
and  other  dogs  of  unquestioned  breeding  and 
high  quality. 

Efforts  to  construct  a  straight-bred  Llewellin 
family  sometimes  run  into  a  manifest  absurdity. 
For  example,  Gleam,  the  progenitor  of  one  of  the 
most  useful  Llewellin  lines,  was  rejected  by  the 
exclusionists  because  Llewellin's  Sam  did  not 
suit  them  in  breeding,  notwithstanding  the  obvi- 
ous fact  that  Sam,  a  field  trial  winner,  was  an 
English  setter  as  well  bred  —  almost  identically 
—  as  Dash  II  and,  if  Gleam  is  evidence,  of  quali- 
ties more  desirable  than  those  of  Dash.  The 
same  exclusionists  have  now  admitted  Gleam  as 
straight-bred.  They  would  as  well  go  further 
and  drop  the  "  pure "  idea  altogether,  letting 
Llewellin  blood  stand  for  what  it  is  —  an  influ- 
ential but  not  separate  element  in  English  setter 
breeding. 


English  Setter  Questions  51 

At  best,  all  setter  pedigrees  except  those  of  the 
Laveracks  had  not  much  authenticity  up  to  forty 
years  ago,  and  Mr.  Laverack  was  not  beyond 
suspicion.  There  was  no  doubt  of  their  being 
English  setters  if  they  came  from  the  kennels  of 
well-known  breeders  among  the  country  gentle- 
men. The  breeding  was  kept  within  setter  lines  in 
most  cases  by  such  men  and  often  conducted  with 
care  and  skill,  but  not  much  attempt  was  made  to 
preserve  the  facts  of  individual  breeding.  The 
breeding  was  good,  but  the  proof  is  missing. 
Consequently,  there  is  not,  after  all,  a  great  deal 
more  to  boast  about  in  the  Duke-Rhoebe-Laver- 
ack  combination,  when  it  comes  to  stickling  for 
purity,  than  in  the  union  of  Mason's  Jeff  and 
Old  Fannie  blood  which  produced  the  Campbell 
setters  and  through  Daisy  F.  enters  into  the 
blood  elements  of  so  many  of  the  very  best  field 
setters  in  America. 

Here  again  the  reader  will  recognize  the  value 
of  a  fashion.  Though  there  is  no  special  virtue 
in  a  straight-bred  Llewellin  as  dogs  actually 
stand,  either  on  the  records  or  in  the  possession 
of  setter  quality,  none  the  less  there  is  a  well- 
defined  fancy  for  this  kind  of  breeding.  If  ama- 
teurs are  looking  for  advice  on  the  subject,  I 
suggest  that  they  weigh  the  value  of  a  cult  as 
compared  with  practical  judgment  of  the  worth 
of  dogs  and  decide  for  themselves  whether  they 


52  The  Sporting  Dog 

prefer  to  be  guided  by  one  more  than  by 
the  other.  All  of  the  successful  lines  in  the 
American  Llewellins  are  practically  of  equal 
studbook  value,  and  the  beginner  can  safely 
begin  his  tests  of  breeding  at  the  third  or  fourth 
generation  from  existing  specimens  of  approved 
looks,  worth,  and  ancestral  respectability.  Noth- 
ing but  a  phrase  ever  made  Count  Danstone  any 
more  a  Llewellin  than  Marie's  Sport;  and  a 
phrase  which  would  rank  the  Cincinnatus  Pride- 
Queen  Vic  family  below  the  untried  progeny  of 
untried  straight-bred  sires  and  dams  can  only 
be  sharply  condemned  by  good  sportsmen.  Race 
horse  practices  have  their  excellent  reasons  in 
their  own  domain  of  breeding  science.  English 
setters  are  another  story.  Purity  of  race  is  a 
good  thing  when  it  is  good.  Sometimes  it  is  a 
misnamed  conglomeration,  and  sometimes  it  needs 
breaking  up  and  disturbance.  At  any  rate,  the 
English  setter  is  not  strictly  a  pure  breed,  nor  is 
the  Llewellin  a  straight  strain.  It  is  mere  pre- 
tence to  treat  them  as  if  they  were. 


CHAPTER   V 

AMERICAN    LLEWELLINS 

At  the  beginning  of  a  brief  series  of  English 
setter  studies,  it  may  be  as  well  to  dispose  at 
once  of  the  notion  that  there  was  ever  a  "  native 
stock "  having  any  attributes  of  an  established 
family.  It  is  surprising  that  any  man  should 
mention  the  term  in  that  sense ;  yet  I  have 
heard  it  used  frequently  by  old  sportsmen  and 
it  often  crops  out  in  letters  to  the  sporting 
papers,  apparently  conveying  the  assumption 
that  there  was  a  more  or  less  fixed  American 
strain  before  the  Llewellins  and  Laveracks 
began  to  cut  a  figure.  It  almost  goes  without 
saying  that  the  "  native  stock  "  was  simply  what 
it  happened  to  be  in  each  of  a  thousand  locali- 
ties. For  generations  before  the  Civil  War  — 
that  period  coinciding  almost  exactly  with  the 
establishment  of  field  trials  and  regular  records 
in  England  —  both  setters  and  pointers  had  been 
brought  over  at  frequent  intervals  and  had  left 
their  progeny  at  different  points  from  Maine 
to  Florida,  and  as  far  into  the  interior  as  enter- 
prising field  shots  had  then  penetrated.     Men's 

S3 


54  The  Sporting  Dog 

natural  sense  of  fitness  had  generally  kept  set- 
ters separate  from  pointers  in  breeding,  but  had 
carried  the  breeding  science  to  an  extent  very 
slightly  beyond  that  point.  If  a  man  wished  to 
breed  setters,  he  seldom  did  more  than  use  the  best 
stock  in  the  neighborhood.  When  the  Laveracks 
began  to  come  over,  and  later  the  Llewellins, 
they  were  mixed  with  this  neighborhood  stock 
to  some  extent,  but  were  kept  distinct  when  the 
breeders  possessed  any  enlightened  aspirations. 
Native  stock,  with  its  prevailing  liver-and-white 
and  its  frequent  graftings  on  Irish  and  black-and- 
tan,  can  be  left  out  of  the  story  except  where 
individual  specimens,  as  in  the  case  of  some  of 
the  Campbell  dogs  in  Tennessee,  exercised  an 
influence  on  the  blood  and  families  successful  in 
public  performances. 

In  America  the  authentic  history  of  the  Eng- 
lish setter  is  a  history  of  the  Llewellins,  with  the 
Laveracks  appearing  constantly  in  the  bench 
shows  and  always  disputing  with  the  Llewellins 
the  claim  of  correct  type. 

The  first  success  of  Mr.  Llewellin's  dogs  in 
the  English  field  trials  at  once  aroused  interest 
and  caused  importations.  Well-informed  fan- 
ciers are  acquainted  with  the  oft-told  story  of 
the  Llewellin  origin.  It  should  be  said,  by  the 
way,  that  the  term,  as  marking  a  special  strain 
of   setters,  is  not  recognized    in    England.     Mr. 


American  Llewellins  ss 

Llewellin  is  known  there  merely  as  one  of  a 
large  number  of  gentlemen  who  have  had  suc- 
cessful kennels  of  English  setters.  The  triumphs 
of  his  entries  in  the  English  field  trials  and  the 
attention  which  imported  specimens  excited  on 
this  side  led  to  a  strenuous  discussion,  out  of 
which  it  came  about  by  common  understanding 
that  the  term  "  Llewellin "  should  be  given  to 
the  strain  in  America.  It  is  well  to  state  that 
field  trials  in  England  were  and  are  compara- 
tively small  events  and  never  had  anything 
resembling  the  relative  prestige  and  influence 
which  they  have  won  in  America.  Mr.  Llewel- 
lin, at  home  a  field  trial  patron  among  few,  is  a 
"bigger"  man  here. 

Let  the  reader  stop  here  and  stick  a  pin.  Let 
him  remember  that  the  typical  American  Llewel- 
lin cannot  be  understood  without  comprehending 
that  the  American  type  is  widely  different  from 
Mr.  Llewellin's  ideals  and  from  his  own  favorite 
dogs.  He  bred  the  ancestors,  but  he  did  not 
breed  the  type.  This  fact  means  much  and 
must  be  recalled  wherever  the  word  "  Llewellin  " 
is  used. 

A  brief  word  on  the  threadbare  subject  of 
how  Mr.  Llewellin  produced  his  English  setters. 
For  many  years  before  he  took  up  the  subject, 
Mr.  Laverack's  beautiful  setters  had  been  the 
centre  of  attention,  and,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that 


56  The  Sporting  Dog 

they  were  regarded  somewhat  doubtfully  by 
shooting  men,  had  gradually  assumed  the  first 
place  in  popular  favor.  Their  most  notable 
characteristics  were  smoothness  and  symmetry 
of  proportion  and  beautiful,  fine,  fleecy,  straight 
coats,  with  the  aristocratic  color  of  lemon  belton 
or  blue  belton.  It  was  the  opinion  of  Stonehenge 
and  most  of  the  English  authorities  that  Mr. 
Laverack's  bitches  were  far  superior  to  his  dogs, 
at  least  in  field  quality ;  the  Laverack  tendency 
to  heavy  and  thick  shoulders  being  a  defect 
more  conspicuous  on  the  male  side.  However 
that  may  be,  the  blue  belton  bitch.  Countess, 
and  her  sister,  Nellie,  brilliantly  distinguished 
themselves  both  on  the  bench  and  at  field  trials. 
At  the  same  time,  Mr.  Statter's  Dan  and  his 
brother  Dick  achieved  distinction  in  the  trials. 
Dan  was  a  very  large  white-black-tan  dog,  the 
upper  part  of  his  body  being  nearly  all  black. 
He  had  been  bred  by  Mr.  Statter.  His  sire  was 
Barclay  Field's  Duke,  a  black-and-white  dog, 
one  of  the  best  early  winners  at  trials  and  de- 
scribed as  very  fast  and  extremely  intelligent  in 
bird  work. 

Dan's  dam  was  Mr.  Statter's  Rhoebe.  She 
was  not  at  all  a  brilliant  field  performer.  Mr. 
Llewellin  describes  her  as  "great,  big,  long,  low, 
and  heavily  built."  Mr.  Brailsford  says  that  she 
was    slow,  but    that    Mr.    Statter   regarded    her 


American  Llewellins  57 

highly,  chiefly  on  account  of  the  breeding  of 
her  dam,  Psyche,  the  latter  having  come  of  a 
well-known  and  highly  esteemed  strain  of  setters, 
the  Beaudesarts,  which  had  been  for  the  most 
part  black  in  color.  Rhoebe,  however,  had  quali- 
ties of  some  sort  which  made  her  a  most  suc- 
cessful matron.  Her  sons  and  daughters  were 
winners  for  several  years  at  the  trials. 

Mr.  Llewellin  bought  the  Laveracks,  Countess 
and  Nellie,  and  the  Duke-Rhoebe  dogs,  Dan  and 
Dick.  Dan  became  the  progenitor  of  nearly  all 
the  first-class  American  field  trial  dogs.  His 
sister,  Dora,  was  imported  into  this  country  by 
Mr.  Adams  of  Boston  and  left  an  important  line 
of  descendants,  the  most  favored  and  famous  of 
which  was  Druid,  imported  ahead  of  Dora  and 
owned  by  Mr.  Arnold  Burges  of  Michigan. 
Another  son  was  Drake,  owned  by  Mr.  Adams. 

A  dog  whose  name  is  of  consequence  chiefly 
because  it  appears  in  a  great  number  of  pedi- 
grees was  Bergundthal's  Rake.  He  was  inbred  to 
Rhoebe.  With  Gladstone,  Count  Noble,  Leices- 
ter, and  Lincoln,  these  dogs.  Rake  and  Druid, 
enter  into  the  pedigrees  of  nearly  all  the  fashion- 
able Llewellin  families  in  America.  The  six  are 
the  foundation  dogs  of  the  American  Llewellin. 
If  the  student  is  after  essential  influences  and 
simplest  terms,  he  can  throw  out  all  other 
Llewellin  importations  as  minor  incidents. 


58  The  Sporting  Dog 

It  will  be  seen  that  Mr.  Llewellin's  dogs  were  a 
combination  of  Laverack  with  the  Duke-Rhoebe 
blood.  These  two  foundations  of  the  Llewellin 
kennel  differed  so  widely  in  characteristics  that 
the  great  variations  in  the  appearance  and  quality 
of  their  descendants  are  not  remarkable.  The 
Laveracks  were  usually  small  or  of  medium  size. 
Rhoebe  was  very  large  herself  and  gave  to  all  her 
progeny  a  tendency  to  size.  To  this  day  it  is  the 
case  that  some  Llewellins  look  like  Laveracks 
and  some  like  Dan  and  his  mother.  Some  do 
not  weigh  over  thirty  pounds,  while  occasional 
specimens  run  up  almost  to  seventy  pounds.  If 
we  assume  that  vigor,  good  sense,  and  level  dis- 
position were  the  characteristics  of  the  Duke- 
Rhoebes,  whereas  it  is  known  that  the  pure 
Laveracks  as  a  rule  were  not  remarkable  for 
mental  qualities,  at  least  in  field  work  on  birds, 
it  seems  that  the  irregularities  in  this  respect 
which  are  noticed  in  the  Llewellins  may  be  at- 
tributed to  the  two  different  foundation  elements 
used  by  the  originator  of  the  strain.  Llewellins 
are  sometimes  brilliant,  sometimes  commonplace, 
and  sometimes  worthless.  In  the  families  which 
are  bred  by  active  patrons  of  field  trials  there  is 
of  late  years  a  marked  tendency  to  uniformity, 
but  the  type  so  suggested  is  by  no  means  a 
general  rule  among  even  dogs  bred  by  these  gen- 
tlemen.    This  type  should,  however,  be  described, 


American  Llewellins  59 

since  it  apparently  bids  fair  to  attain  more  or 
less  of  ascendency.  It  is  represented  by  such 
dogs  as  Tony  Boy,  Marie's  Sport,  Roderigo, 
Gath,  Lady's  Count  Gladstone,  Rodfield,  Geneva, 
Sioux,  and  Mohawk.  It  is  of  medium  size,  com- 
pact body,  relatively  small  and  short  head  as 
compared  with  the  Laveracks,  and  of  harder  and 
thinner  coat.  Many  of  these  dogs,  like  Glad- 
stone, carry  the  tail  curled  upward  almost  like 
that  of  a  foxhound,  though  when  at  active  work 
in  the  field  they  commonly  keep  it  below  the 
level  of  the  back.  They  are  usually  characterized 
by  intense  nervous  energy,  good  speed  in  the 
field,  and  a  disposition  to  self-hunt.  Breeders  are 
endeavoring  to  increase  the  size  of  field  trial  dogs 
by  selecting  larger  breeding  specimens,  but  it  is 
not  likely  that  the  average  size  will  much  exceed 
fifty  pounds  for  the  dogs  and  five  pounds  less  for 
the  bitches.  That  weight  seems  to  be  some- 
where about  normal,  for  what  may  be  called  the 
American  Llewellin  strain,  just  as  the  normal 
height  seems  to  be  between  twenty-two  and 
twenty-four  inches  at  the  shoulder. 

The  qualities  which  enter  into  the  American 
Llewellins  cannot  be  understood  without  an  ex- 
amination of  the  leading  dogs  which  enter  into 
their  pedigrees. 

Beyond  comparison  the  first  in  importance  is 
Gladstone.     This   remarkable   dog  was  a  white- 


6o  The  Sporting  Dog 

black-tan,  by  Llewellin's  Dan  out  of  the  lemon- 
and-white  Laverack,  Petrel.  He  was  imported 
in  utero  by  Mr.  Smith  of  Strathroy,  Canada. 
When  a  small  puppy,  he  was  bought  by  Mr. 
P.  H.  Bryson  of  Memphis,  Tennessee,  and  at- 
tained his  reputation  while  in  the  ownership 
of  Mr.  Bryson  and  his  brother,  Mr.  David  Bry- 
son. Gladstone  won  on  the  bench  as  well  as 
in  the  field,  but  it  was  probably  the  prestige  of 
the  dog  as  well  as  the  somewhat  irregular  char- 
acter of  bench-show  entries  in  those  days  rather 
than  his  strict  show  qualities  which  gained  him 
the  ribbons.  He  weighed  a  little  more  than  fifty 
pounds  and  stood  twenty-two  and  a  half  inches  at 
shoulder.  In  utility  points  he  was  a  finely  built 
dog,  quite  thick  in  the  shoulder  but  with  superb 
chest  and  perfect  feet  and  legs.  He  was  very 
strongly  made  and  of  exceptional  speed  and  stay- 
ing power.  His  head  was  short,  the  muzzle  was 
inclined  to  be  "  snipey,"  and  the  ears  were  set 
quite  high.  These  defects  of  head,  as  rated  by 
bench-show  standards,  have  been  persistent  in  his 
descendants,  probably  because  the  same  faults 
were  more  or  less  inherent  in  the  entire  strain  as 
well  as  in  Gladstone  himself.  Under  the  old 
field  trial  rules  in  force  when  Gladstone  first 
appeared  in  public,  he  was  several  times  defeated. 
At  that  time  competition  was  judged  by  the 
number  of  stanch  points  made  by  a  dog,  and  it 


American  Llewellins  6i 

consequently  happened  that  an  inferior  dog  with 
good  luck  or  a  good  handler  could  often  beat  the 
most  brilliant.  In  spite  of  an  occasional  defeat, 
Gladstone  was  regarded  by  all  good  judges  as  the 
best  young  setter  ever  seen  in  the  United  States. 
His  bold  and  brilliant  character,  positive,  snappy 
bird  work  and  flawless  courage  gathered  him  a 
host  of  admirers  the  whole  length  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Valley  and  spread  his  reputation  across  the 
ocean. 

Counted  as  a  factor  of  importance  in  the 
production  of  the  American  Llewellins,  Count 
Noble  must  be  ranked  next  to  Gladstone.  He 
was  a  large  white-black-tan  dog,  long  in  the 
body  and  not  considered  a  well-proportioned 
setter.  He  weighed  sixty  pounds.  This  dog 
was  imported  by  David  Sanborn  of  Baltimore 
from  the  Llewellin  kennel,  and  owned  by  him  up 
to  the  time  of  Mr.  Sanborn's  death  when  he 
passed  into  the  possession  of  B.  F.  Wilson  of 
Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania.  He  was  by  Mr.  Llewel- 
lin's  favorite.  Count  Wind'em,  and  his  dam  was 
Nora,  by  Dan  out  of  Nellie.  He  was  thus  in- 
bred to  Dan,  though  the  major  portion  of  his 
blood  was  Laverack,  his  sire.  Count  Wind'em, 
being  three-quarters  Laverack.  Like  Gladstone, 
he  forced  himself  on  public  attention  by  the  suc- 
cessful brilliancy  of  his  public  performances.  He 
was  a  dog  of  great  speed  and  wonderful  endur- 


62  The  Sporting  Dog 

ance,  particularly  good  on  prairie  chicken  and 
able  to  hold  his  own  in  any  company  on  any 
game. 

Druid  was  a  good-sized  dog  and  much  hand- 
somer than  the  average  Llewellin.  His  propor- 
tions were  good  and  his  color  very  attractive  — 
a  finely  marked  head  and  heavily  ticked  body. 
The  shape  of  his  head  and  the  set  of  his  ears 
were  better  than  those  points  in  Gladstone  and 
other  prominent  Llewellin  dogs.  His  tail,  how- 
ever, like  those  of  his  mother,  Dora,  and  his 
close  relative,  Gladstone,  curled  upward  and  was 
carried  high.  Druid  was  a  dog  entirely  differ- 
ent from  Count  Noble  and  Gladstone  in  dis- 
position. He  was  by  no  means  a  brilliant  field 
performer,  but  was  a  good  bird  dog.  He  inherited 
Dora's  amiable  and  tractable  disposition,  and  it  is 
very  likely  that  he  exercised  valuable  influence 
in  modifying  the  headlong  and  often  reckless 
tendency  of  Gladstone  blood.  Certainly  he  must 
be  credited  with  improving  the  appearance  of 
the  Llewellins  as  bench-show  candidates.  His 
daughter,  General  Shattuc's  Dido  H,  was  a 
bench-show  champion  of  her  day,  and  her  son, 
Cincinnatus,  was  also  a  bench-show  champion  as 
well  as  a  placed  dog  in  some  of  the  important 
field  trials.  Dido  was  also  the  dam  of  the  bench 
champion.  Dad  Wilson. 

Leicester  was    imported   from  Mr.  Llewellin's 


American  Llewellins  6^ 

kennel.  He  was  a  lemon-and-white,  by  Dan  out 
of  the  Laverack,  LIll  II.  It  is  said  that  he  was 
not  trained  for  the  field  to  any  great  extent, 
although  shot  over  some.  He  was  a  beautifully 
formed  dog,  and,  perhaps,  the  fastest  of  his  day 
as  a  mere  matter  of  speed.  He  had,  however,  a 
nervous  disposition  and  apparently  was  easily 
rattled,  though  not  much  was  ever  said  about  his 
actual  field  quality.  He  was  chiefly  famous  on 
account  of  the  success  of  his  daughters  when  bred 
to  Druid,  Rake,  Gladstone,  and  other  well-known 
sires.  His  brother  Lincoln  was,  judging  from 
the  annals  of  those  days,  a  much  better  dog  than 
Leicester.  He  was  also  lemon-and-white,  stylish 
in  the  field,  and  rated  as  a  first-class  bird  dog. 
His  influence  on  American  pedigrees  comes 
chiefly  through  his  son,  Gleam,  a  dog  which  in- 
herited most  of  his  characteristics  and  probably 
some  additional  qualities  from  the  beautiful 
Countess  Bear,  another  lemon-and-white,  the 
dam  of  Blaze,  Gleam's  mother.  Gleam  was  a 
very  large,  rough,  orange-and-white  of  great 
field  quality.  He  comes  into  modern  pedigrees 
through  his  daughters,  Daisy  F.  and  Georgia 
Belle.  The  former,  herself  half  Llewellin  and 
half  Campbell,  was  the  dam  of  Daisy  Hope  and 
Daisy  Hunter;  and  Georgia  Belle  produced  the 
phenomenal  litter  which  included  Gleam's  Sport, 
Gleam's  Pink,  Maiden  Mine,  and  Spot  Cash,  all 


64  The  Sporting  Dog 

of  which  were  field  trial  performers  of  unsur- 
passed natural  quality.  Gleam's  Sport  became 
the  sire  of  Marie's  Sport;  Gleam's  Pink  sired 
Pink's  Boy ;  Spot  Cash  sired  Spot's  Girl ;  and 
Maiden  Mine  became  the  dam  of  some  good 
performers.  Naturally  the  lemon-and-white  color 
appears  often  in  the  Gleam  line.  Marse  Ben, 
white-black-tan,  is  a  dog  also  likely  to  perpetuate 
the  Gleam  blood,  which  comes  to  him  through 
Almo,  brother  of  Georgia  Belle,  and  through 
Mecca,  she  by  Gleam  out  of  Tuberose. 

Bergundthal's  Rake  is  a  name  which  figures  in 
the  early  generations  of  a  great  majority  of  the 
American  Llewellin  pedigrees.  At  one  time  he 
was  widely  discussed  on  account  of  the  large 
amount  of  Rhoebe  blood  which  he  carried.  He 
came  from  Mr.  Llewellin's  kennel  and  was  by 
Dan,  son  of  Rhoebe,  out  of  Ruby,  daughter  of 
Rhoebe.  Ruby's  sire  was  the  Laverack  Fred. 
Rake's  blood  was  believed  by  many  authorities 
to  be  extremely  valuable  and  suitable  for  per- 
petuation as  the  proper  cross  for  dogs  having  a 
preponderance  of  Laverack  blood.  Individually 
he  was  not  an  attractive  dog  in  any  respect  ex- 
cept that  he  was  large  and  powerful,  with  par- 
ticularly strong  bone.  He  was  white-black-tan, 
nearly  all  black,  rough,  and  coarse-looking,  and 
without  any  of  the  fancy  bench-show  points. 
Just  what  his  field  qualities  were  I  have  been  a 


American  Llewellins  65 

little  perplexed  to  discover.  In  those  days  there 
was  a  sort  of  freemasonry  among  the  experts. 
They  seemed  to  regard  it  as  somewhat  non- 
ethical  to  speak  to  outsiders  of  the  faults  of 
prominent  dogs.  All  of  them  mentioned  Rake's 
field  qualities  with  reservation.  Mr.  A.  C.  Wad- 
dell  once  told  me  that  he  had  charge  of  Rake  for 
a  time  and  that,  while  the  dog  had  considerable 
speed  and  disposition  to  hunt,  there  was  a  lack  of 
nose.  Mr.  P.  T.  Madison  described  the  dog  to 
me  as  having  plenty  of  nose,  but  not  much  judg- 
ment in  the  use  of  it ;  intimating  that  he  was  a 
difficult  dog  to  make  serviceable  in  the  field.  He 
appears  in  modern  pedigrees  largely  through  his 
daughters  out  of  Bergundthal's  Fanny,  a  daughter 
of  Leicester  and  Dart,  Dart  being  a  sister  of  Druid. 
From  this  source  he  comes  into  the  modern  stock 
through  Major  Taylor's  famous  Lit,  Lit's  sister, 
Bopeep,  Bryson's  Sue,  Ruby's  Girl,  and  others. 
In  the  direct  male  line  there  is  not  much  to  per- 
petuate Rake's  erstwhile  reputation.  In  a  chapter 
on  breeding  I  shall  refer  to  an  interesting  experi- 
ment by  Dr.  Stark  of  Milwaukee,  who  by  inbreed- 
ing to  Rake  concentrated  a  remarkable  number 
of  lines  of  Rhoebe.  This  experiment  did  not 
result  successfully  and  cuts  Httle  figure  among 
the  later  Llewellins. 

Going  back  for  a  moment  to  Mr.  Llewellin's 
kennel,  there  is  a  name  which  must  be  mentioned, 


66  The  Sporting  Dog 

though  the  disposition  for  several  years  both  in 
America  and  England  has  been  to  breed  away 
from  the  influence.  Llewellin's  Dash  II,  some- 
times called  Armstrong's  and  sometimes  Brewis's 
Dash,  was  a  great  public  performer  in  England, 
becoming  particularly  conspicuous  on  account  of 
his  competitions  with  the  speediest  setter  of  that 
day,  Macdona's  Ranger.  Dash  II  was  a  white- 
black-tan  of  powerful  build,  by  the  Laverack, 
Prince,  out  of  Kate.  His  granddam,  Armstrong's 
Kate,  stands  on  the  records  as  being  a  sister  of 
Field's  Duke,  but,  as  I  have  elsewhere  said,  Mr. 
Buckell  seems  to  have  no  faith  in  the  breeding 
as  thus  given.  Dash  differed  in  form  and  char- 
acter from  the  majority  of  Mr.  Llewellin's  dogs. 
He  became  the  sire  of  Dashing  Bondhu  and 
other  successful  performers  in  Mr.  Llewellin's 
kennel.  Mr.  Buckell  seems  to  think  that  he 
introduced  into  the  Llewellin  blood  additional 
intelligence  but  diminished  brilliancy  and  aggres- 
siveness. In  the  American  studbooks  Dash  II 
is  represented  by  Dashing  Monarch  and  others. 
Dashing  Monarch  was  probably  very  much  like 
his  sire  —  a  strong,  stoutly  built  dog,  altogether 
too  heavy  and  meaty  in  front  to  suit  American 
breeders,  but  a  more  or  less  successful  sire.  For 
a  time  I  owned  his  daughter.  Dashing  Lavellette, 
and  I  can  believe  that  she  stood  for  much  of  the 
Dash   influence.     She    was   a   handsome   setter, 


American  Llewellins  67 

black,  white  and  ticked,  with  a  finely  shaped  head, 
but  one  which  would  have  been  heavy  even  in 
a  dog.  She  had  a  big  chest  and  was  wide  in 
front.  Her  speed  and  range  were  far  below 
American  field  trial  demands,  but  she  was  a  most 
industrious  bird  hunter,  with  exquisite  nose,  and 
a  very  agreeable  dog  to  work  in  close  cover.  I 
have  some  of  her  descendants  now,  but  her  own 
physical  characteristics  entirely  disappeared  with 
herself. 

John  Bolus's  Belton  was  a  dog  which  was  the 
subject  of  a  debate  during  his  lifetime.  He  was 
a  Llewellin  and  not  a  Llewellin,  being  of  blood 
lines  similar  to  those  of  the  Llewellins  but  having 
come  from  another  kennel.  He  was  finally  ad- 
mitted as  a  straight-bred  Llewellin.  He  was 
a  white-black-tan  dog  of  superior  field  quality 
and  good  looks,  somewhat  heavier  than  Glad- 
stone, but  not  a  large  dog.  He  does  not  appear 
in  a  great  many  pedigrees,  but  was  an  ancestor  of 
dogs  like  Topsy's  Rod,  Harwick,  Mohawk,  and 
Marie's  Sport. 

Before  proceeding  farther  with  the  Llewellins 
it  might  be  well  to  introduce  here  a  mention  of 
the  Campbells,  a  family  of  short  existence  in  both 
directions,  which  received  its  name  because  the 
Messrs.  Campbell  of  Tennessee  happened  to  own 
the  leading  specimens  at  the  time  when  field  trials 
first  began.     The  origin  of  these  dogs  seems  to 


68  The  Sporting  Dog 

have  been  located  in  the  black  setter,  called  Ma- 
son's Jeff,  and  the  lemon-and-white  Old  Fannie ; 
which  were  said  to  have  had  the  fine  coat  and 
general  appearance  of  the  Laveracks,  though  no 
one  has  ever  found  out  much  beyond  that  fact. 
Campbell's  Buck  Jr.  and  Joe  Jr.  attained  national 
fame  in  defeating  Gladstone  and  other  celebrated 
Llewellins.  Joe  Jr.  was  a  half-bred  setter,  being 
out  of  Buck  Jr.  by  the  noted  Irish  setter,  Elcho. 
He  defeated  Gladstone  in  a  match  race  under  the 
old  rules ;  the  race  having  been  arranged  by  the 
late  Mr.  W.  A.  Wheatley  of  Memphis  and  the  Bry- 
sons.  Joe  Jr.  either  was  not  a  successful  sire  or 
his  blood  became  unfashionable  on  account  of  its 
being  a  cross.  The  Campbell  line  is  perpetuated 
chiefly  through  Daisy  F.  and  her  daughters,  Daisy 
Hope  and  Daisy  Hunter.  Daisy  Hunter  espe- 
cially was  successful  in  giving  her  name  a  promi- 
nent position  in  the  studbook.  Through  her  the 
Campbell  blood  has  appeared  in  winners  like 
Count  Hunter,  Seven-Up,  and  Vic's  Vic. 

While  on  the  subject  of  contests  between 
Llewellins  and  "natives"  the  other  great  match 
race,  that  between  the  Llewellin,  Lit,  and  the 
more  plebeian  Grousedale,  may  have  a  glance. 
This  v/as  a  three-days'  race  run  in  cold  and  dis- 
agreeable weather,  in  which  Lit  overwhelmingly 
defeated  her  rival. 

The  first  field  trial  setter  to  lay  the  foundation 


American  Llewellins  69 

of  a  debate  in  regard  to  changing  the  bench-show 
standard  was  Gath.  This  pet  of  the  field  trial 
men  was  by  Count  Noble  out  of  the  Gladstone- 
Leicester-Dart  bitch,  Peep  o'  Day.  He  was  a  de- 
parture from  most  of  the  ideals  previously  held 
on  both  sides  of  the  water.  He  was  of  light  and 
fine  structure,  and  his  action  is  said  to  have  been 
as  easy  and  frictionless  as  that  of  a  fox.  He  died 
young,  but  made  a  remarkable  impression,  not 
only  on  the  memories  of  sportsmen  but  on  the 
Llewellin  strain.  He  sired  out  of  the  Gladstone 
bitch.  Gem,  a  prized  litter  of  which  Gath's  Mark, 
Gath's  Hope,  and  Harold  were  the  best.  Through 
the  first  two  Gath's  blood  lives  in  the  veins  of  a 
vast  number  of  high-class  dogs  to-day.  Gath's 
Mark  was  a  white-black-tan  dog  of  medium  size, 
not  handsome  but  of  most  sterling  character. 
After  having  been  retired  for  some  years  he  came 
out  when  he  was,  I  think,  six  years  old  and  won 
the  championship  stake.  His  brother,  Gath's 
Hope,  was  one  9f  the  largest  Llewellins  ever  bred 
in  this  country,  standing  about  twenty-seven 
inches  at  the  shoulder.  He  was  lemon-and-white. 
Partly  because  of  his  color  and  partly  because  he 
was  believed  to  be  soft,  he  was  little  bred  to  for  a 
time,  but  after  Daisy  Hope  and  Daisy  Hunter, 
his  daughters,  appeared,  he  became  fashionable. 
One  of  his  daughters  was  the  dam  of  Champion 
Rodfield. 


70  The  Sporting  Dog 

In  connection  with  Gath  there  may  be  usefully 
grouped  a  succession  of  dogs  which  deserve 
special  attention,  on  account  not  only  of  their 
brilliant  success  in  public  trials  and  their  promi- 
nence in  later-day  pedigrees,  but  of  their  peculiar 
character.  These  dogs  are  Roderigo,  Count 
Gladstone  IV,  and  Mohawk.  The  type  is  what 
some  breeders  would  call  feminine.  Mohawk,  the 
latest  high-class  specimen  of  the  type,  is  also  its 
extreme.  It  would  be  injustice  to  leave  the  im- 
pression that  such  dogs  are  feminine  in  the  sense 
of  being  effeminate.  The  word  is  used  to  indicate 
that  they  are  of  rather  small  size,  sensitive  to  in- 
fluences, easily  affected  by  harsh  treatment,  and 
generally  of  fine,  rather  than  powerful,  character. 
They  require  encouragement  rather  than  restraint 
in  their  training,  though  enthusiastic,  wide,  and 
persistent  searchers  when  at  work. 

Roderigo  was  a  white-black-tan  dog,  strongly 
marked,  weighing  not  much  more  than  forty-five 
pounds  and  of  good  structural  points.  His  head, 
shoulders,  and  foreparts  generally  were  regarded 
by  many  experts  as  ideal.  His  loin  and  quarters 
were  rather  narrow^  and  not  in  proportion  to 
his  front.  When  first  brought  out  in  public, 
he  was  a  little  too  cautious  in  his  bird  work,  but 
subsequently  developed  great  speed,  range,  and 
finding  quality.  As  all  setter  men  know,  he  was 
the  greatest  sire  of  his  time.     Most  of  the  field 


LLEWELLIN.     FIELD-TRIAL  TYPE 

Charity.  White-black-tan.  By  Tony  Boy-Lena  Belle.  Owner,  Mr.  Pierre  Loril- 
lard,  New  York.  An  exceptionally  brilliant  performer.  Since  the  death  of  Geneva, 
her  sister,  severe  field-trial  critics  say  that  Charity  is  one  of  the  two  really  first- 
rate  female  field-trial  dogs  in  America,  the  other  being  Sport's  Maid,  owned  by 
Mr.  Henry,  of  Butler,  Missouri.  By  "  first  rate  "  these  critics  mean  that  these  two  alone 
have  in  the  highest  form  the  qualities  of  speed,  decisive  bird  work,  and  gameness 
under  all  conditions  of  heat  or  cold,  rain  or  shine.  Peach  Blossom  and  Annie  B.  are 
candidates  for  admission  to  this  select  group. 


LLEWELLIN.     LIGHT  WEIGHT.     FIELD-TRIAL  TYPE 

Geneva.  Field-trial  champion  (1903),  National  Championship  Club.  Now  dead. 
White-black-tan.  By  Tony  Boy-Lena  Belle.  Winner  in  Derby  and  all  age  form. 
Probably  the  highest  in  field  class  of  her  sex  bred  in  America.  Weight,  forty  pounds. 
Breeder  and  owner,  Mr.  Pierre  Lorillard,  New  York.  Great  speed,  range,  and 
endurance. 


American  Llewellins  71 

trial  setters  of  to-day  trace  to  him  in  one  or  more 
lines.  His  best  son  in  the  field  and  as  a  sire  was 
Antonio,  the  sire  of  Rodfield,  Tony  Boy,  and  a 
number  of  other  dogs  which  have  no  superiors  in 
pubUc  esteem. 

Champion  Count  Gladstone  IV,  as  were  the 
other  dogs  of  this  group,  was  bred  almost  exactly 
like  Roderigo,  being  by  Count  Noble  out  of  a 
Gladstone-Druid  dam.  He  was  a  white-black- 
tan  dog,  but  nearly  all  white.  He  was  even 
worse  than  Roderigo  in  the  quality  of  his  bird 
work  in  his  early  days,  a  trouble  which  seems  to 
have  been  caused  partly  by  a  period  of  harsh 
treatment  which  he  suffered  when  a  puppy.  He 
afterward  developed  into  the  foremost  field  trial 
winner  of  his  time  and  succeeded  Roderigo  in 
the  position  of  the  greatest  sire.  Late  in  life  he 
was  purchased  by  a  kennel  in  California  conducted 
under  the  patronage  of  Mrs.  Senator  Hearst.  He 
was  equally  successful  in  his  last  home.  The 
number  of  performers  sired  by  this  dog  was  phe- 
nomenal. From  Dan's  Lady  alone  he  produced 
Champion  Lady's  Count  Gladstone,  Lady's  Count, 
Dave  Earl,  Count  Danstone,  and  Albert  Lang. 
From  Hester  Prynne  he  got  Sioux,  Lady  Rachel, 
and  Prime  Minister. 

Mohawk,  the  latest  great  dog  of  this  type,  has 
blood  lines  essentially  the  same.  His  sire,  Tony 
Boy,  is  inbred  to  Roderigo,  and  his  dam,  Countess 


72  The  Sporting  Dog 

Meteor,  is  by  Count  Gladstone  IV  out  of  a  daughter 
of  Roderigo.  Mohawk  is  a  small  but  thoroughly 
well-built  and  symmetrical  dog  of  the  white-black- 
tan  color,  chiefly  white.  In  his  Derby  year  he 
was  regarded  by  many  as  the  highest  class  puppy 
ever  run  in  America.  In  his  second  season  his 
bird  work  suffered  from  some  cause,  and  he  did 
not  quite  confirm  the  early  impression.  In  his 
third  year  he  has  redeemed  his  reputation  and  is, 
in  the  autumn  of  1903,  the  first  of  living  setters 
by  the  records.  He  has  perfect  action,  great  speed, 
and  a  wider  range  than  most  sportsmen  would  care 
to  follow.  His  work  on  birds,  though  not  pot- 
tering, is  catlike  rather  than  bold  and  positive. 
Under  Mr.  Whitford  he  won  bench  honors  at 
Chicago  in  the  spring  of   1903. 

From  the  famous  cross  of  Gladstone  with  Bry- 
son's  Sue  came  a  number  of  dogs  which  stand  as 
milestones  in  the  studbooks.  Gladstone's  Boy 
was,  perhaps,  all  things  considered,  the  best  indi- 
vidual. He  was  a  very  large  dog  of  sufficient 
speed  and  exceptionally  intelligent  bird  work.  He 
was  the  sire  of  a  number  of  successful  public  per- 
formers, among  them,  Fanny  Murnan,  Lora,  and 
Miss  Ruby.  His  blood  appears  to  be  especially 
successful  through  his  daughters.  Of  entirely 
different  type  from  Gladstone's  Boy  was  Dan 
Gladstone,  a  rather  small  and  compact  dog,  con- 
sidered a  close  resemblance  to  his  sire.     He  was 


American  Llewellins  73 

a  fairly  good  but  not  great  performer  in  the  trials 
and  was  a  success  in  the  stud.  Sportsman  was  a 
very  large  dog  of  this  cross  and  had  no  little  pre- 
tension to  bench-show  excellence.  He  was  taken 
to  California  and  became  prominent  in  the  breed- 
ing ranks  of  that  state.  Breeze  Gladstone  was 
the  most  successful  of  the  cross  on  the  bench. 
He  was  a  strongly  marked  white-black-tan,  of  size 
rather  above  the  average,  and  was  smoother  in 
conformation  and  much  better  in  head  than  most 
dogs  of  his  breeding. 

Paul  Gladstone  may  be  mentioned  in  connec- 
tion with  Bohemian  Girl,  the  latter  being  the 
mother  of  his  best  progeny.  Paul  was  a  small, 
cobby,  white-black-tan  dog  of  fair  field  trial 
form.  He  was  an  almost  unchallenged  bench 
winner  for  two  or  three  years.  He  was  by  no 
means  without  faults,  however,  and  I  think  would 
hardly  rank  high  on  the  bench  if  he  were  alive 
to-day.  His  head  was  too  short  and,  for  the  char- 
acter of  his  muzzle,  too  thick. 

Bohemian  Girl  was  possibly  the  best  daughter 
of  Count  Noble.  She  was  a  large  and  rangy 
black-and-white,  with  a  slashing  way  of  going 
and  admittedly  the  best  field  setter  of  her  sex  at 
the  time.  In  her  public  running  she  was  owned 
by  Mr.  Walter  Mellier  of  Kansas  City,  but  was 
sold  by  him  for  $1000  to  Mr.  Shelley  Hudson  of 
Kentucky.      Bred  to  Paul  Gladstone,  Bohemian 


74  The  Sporting  Dog 

Girl  became  the  mother  of  Paul  Bo,  owned  by 
Mr.  Richard  Merrill  of  Milwaukee.  Paul  Bo 
excited  the  enthusiasm  of  setter  men  by  his  phe- 
nomenal speed  and  handsome  appearance.  He 
inherited  much  of  his  mother's  size  and  rangi- 
ness,  with  his  sire's  good  looks  and  quality.  He 
had  a  white-black-tan  head  with  heavily  ticked 
white  body. 

There  would  be  an  interest  in  describing  all 
the  notable  individuals  of  the  Roderigo-Bopeep 
family,  among  them  Orlando,  Bettye  S.,  and 
Chance.  Space,  however,  limits  the  description 
to  Antonio,  the  most  notable  and  successful. 
Antonio  was  a  handsome  and  heavily  marked 
white-black-tan  of  good  size.  He  had  an  excel- 
lent head,  exceptionally  good  shoulders  and  legs, 
and  generally  attractive  appearance.  He  was 
one  of  the  best  bird  finders  of  the  Roderigo-Bo- 
peep family  and  probably  had  stamina  and  ability 
to  sustain  speed  to  an  extent  not  surpassed  by  any 
dog  that  ever  ran  before  the  public.  Through 
Tony  Boy  and  Rodfield  his  blood  is  at  the  top 
of  the  present  fashion  among  field  trial  pa- 
trons. 

No  account  of  American  setters  would  be  quite 
complete  without  a  mention  of  Mingo,  the  son  of 
Druid.  He  was  a  favorite  among  Canadian  setter 
breeders  for  years,  and  his  blood  still  counts  for 
much  in  approved  pedigrees.     He  was  nearer  the 


American  Llewellins  75 

early  bench  standards  than  most  Llewellins  and 
of  more  than  average  performing  ability  in  the 
field.  His  sons  and  daughters  were  generally 
good  looking  and  almost  invariably  admirable 
shooting   dogs. 

Mr.  Dager  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  had  a  career  as  a 
setter  ow^ner  which  if  not  long  was  at  least  brill- 
iant. He  bought  the  two  puppies,  Cincinnatus 
and  Toledo  Blade,  in  Tennessee  under,  I  believe, 
the  advice  of  Major  Taylor.  Both  of  these 
dogs  were  white-black-tan  and  of  superior  bench 
type.  Toledo  Blade  looked  much  like  his  sire, 
Roderigo,  and  was  one  of  the  best  field  trial  dogs 
of  a  time  of  good  ones.  Cincinnatus  was  not 
highly  regarded  by  field  trial  men,  but  was  placed 
in  good  company.  On  the  bench  Cincinnatus 
quickly  won  a  championship.  Under  judges  who 
favored  a  rangy  type  he  was  invincible.  In  ap- 
pearance this  dog  was  an  exaggeration  of  what 
might  be  called  the  Druid  shape.  His  skull  and 
muzzle  were  almost  abnormally  long  but  were 
correctly  formed.  He  was  rather  flat  in  chest 
and  weak  in  back  ribs,  but  was  otherwise  good 
and  a  remarkably  refined  specimen  among  large 
dogs.  From  the  successful  show  setter,  Albert's 
Nellie,  largely  Laverack  in  blood,  he  produced  the 
magnificent  field  performer  and  bench  winner, 
Cincinnatus's  Pride.  Pride  is  somewhat  like  his  sire 
without  the  extreme  points.    In  all  around  quality 


76  The  Sporting  Dog 

he  is  the  best  dog  shown  in  years,  and  promises 
to  live  for  many  generations  in  the  success  of  his 
descendants. 

Considered  from  the  field  trial  standpoint  alone, 
the  most  successful  of  sires  living  at  this  writ- 
ing is  Tony  Boy,  a  light-weight  white-black-tan 
by  Antonio  out  of  a  dam  by  Roi  d'Or,  a  full 
brother  of  Antonio.  In  stamina  and  endurance 
at  high  speed  Tony  Boy  ranked  first  during  the 
years  of  his  public  competition.  In  the  stud  he 
has  sired  Champion  Geneva,  Mohawk,  Clyde, 
Tony  Man,  Sport  McAllister,  Pretti  Sing,  and  an 
astonishing  number  of  other  first-rate  performers, 
when  it  is  remembered  that  for  several  years  after 
being  retired  he  was  not  much  used  as  a  stud  dog. 

Champion  Rodfield  was  owned  by  the  late 
P.  T.  Madison  of  Indianapolis,  whose  friendly  re- 
lations with  field  trial  men  extended  all  over  the 
country.  Rodfield  was,  therefore,  a  fashionable 
sire  from  his  first  season.  His  sons  and  daugh- 
ters were  quickly  scattered  over  the  entire  United 
States  and  Canada.  He  has  the  distinction  of 
having  been  considered  nearer  than  any  other 
Llewellin  to  Gladstone  in  appearance  and  style  of 
work.  He  was  a  white-black-tan  of  sufficient 
outward  quality  to  win  a  championship  on  the 
bench,  though  this  honor  was  not  achieved  in  first- 
rate  company.  His  blood  lines  were  of  the  best; 
being  by  Antonio  out  of  a  dam  by  Gath's  Hope. 


American  UewelUns  77 

Other  sons  of  Antonio  which  are  suggested  by 
the  mention  of  Tony  Boy  and  Rodfield  are  Cham- 
pion Joe  Gumming  and  Champion  Tony's  Gale, 
both  dogs  of  the  usual  Llewellin  color  and  superb 
field  abilities.  Dash  Antonio  was  the  equal  of 
either,  though  less  distinguished. 

Among  the  dogs  descended  from  the  Gleam 
side  of  the  Llewellin  house  one  of  the  best  was 
the  lemon-and-white  Gleam's  Sport.  In  actual 
ranging  and  finding  ability  he  was  regarded  as 
the  foremost  dog  of  two  seasons.  At  that  time, 
however,  his  color  was  less  respected  than  it  is 
now  and,  like  many  of  the  Gleams,  he  had  very 
little  of  merry  style  in  the  field.  Dogs  were 
placed  over  him  in  the  trials  which  did  not  equal 
him  in  solid  work  but  surpassed  him  in  attractive- 
ness of  style.  His  son,  Marie's  Sport,  long  the 
property  of  Judge  H.  B.  Ledbetter  of  Farmington, 
Missouri,  was  also  a  little  unfortunate  in  getting 
somewhat  less  than  the  best  of  it  from  the  field 
trial  judges.  Yet,  since  he  got  considerably  more 
than  justice  on  the  bench,  his  supporters  had  no 
right  to  complain.  Marie's  Sport  was  white- 
black-tan,  one  side  of  his  head  being  white.  He 
was  a  powerful  dog  of  medium  size,  and  game 
to  the  last  degree.  His  success  in  the  stud  was 
remarkable  from  the  first.  His  sons  and  daugh- 
ters include  the  winners,  Sport's  Gath,  Sport's 
Belle,  Champion    Sport's  Boy,  Sport's  Solomon, 


78  The  Sporting  Dog 

Prince  Lyndon,  Sport's  Destiny,  and  Sport's 
Lady.  Almost  without  exception  he  gave  the 
quality  of  resolute,  indefatigable  hunting  ability, 
with  accurate  nose  and  stanch  point  work. 
Judging  from  the  past  year  or  two,  it  is  likely 
that  his  daughters  will  be  among  the  most  suc- 
cessful matrons  in  Llewellin  kennels. 

A  clever  rather  than  great  son  of  Rodfield  out 
of  a  Marie's  Sport  dam  is  the  orange-and-white 
Rodfield's  Pride  (Cowley's).  He  was  a  high-class 
winner  throughout  the  fall  of  1902,  and  wound  up 
as  second  to  the  pointer,  Percival  Jingo,  in  the 
Interstate  Championship  stake.  In  the  winter 
trials  he  had  gone  out  of  condition  and  did  not 
show  so  well.  His  size  is  smallish  and  his  bench 
quality  not  more  than  ordinary.  In  the  field  he 
is  stylish  and  attractive. 

Some  judges  would  say  that  in  strict  class 
Colonel  R.  is  the  best  setter  that  ever  ran  in  pub- 
lic. In  five  starts  he  won  two  Derbies  and  two  of 
the  principal  all-age  stakes.  In  each  of  his  win- 
ning trials  the  reports  say  that  he  distinctly  and 
obviously  outclassed  his  competitors,  and  that  the 
judges  did  not  hesitate  a  moment  in  placing  him 
first  He  is  a  white-black-tan  dog  of  medium 
weight  and  rather  light  construction.  His  dam. 
Trap  Jr.,  lemon-and-white,  is,  perhaps,  the  only 
prominent  English  setter  which  carries  the  blood 
of  the  Ethan  Allen  strain,  well  known  in  ConneC' 


American  Llewellins  79 

ticut  a  quarter  of  a  century  or  more  ago.  She 
was  a  field  trial  winner  herself.  Mr.  Edwards  of 
Cleveland,  the  owner  of  Colonel  R.,  also  has  in  his 
kennel  Uncle  B.,  a  son  of  Harwick  and  Dan's 
Lady.  Uncle  B.  probably  participated  in  more 
field  trials  than  any  dog  that  ever  lived,  and  was 
always  dangerous.  He  was  not  quite  first  class 
in  brilliancy,  but  was  a  determined  goer,  and  won 
more  than  once  against  strong  competition.  In 
the  stud  Uncle  B.  is  making  a  record.  In  the  fall 
of  1903  his  youngsters  have  shown  better  than 
those  of  any  other  setter  sire. 

Oakley  Hill  was  the  great  Derby  winner  of  his 
season  in  the  central  West.  He  was  afterward 
shown  on  the  bench  and,  except  in  head,  was  con- 
sidered by  good  judges  one  of  the  best  modern 
specimens  of  the  Llewellins.  He  is  a  handsome 
white-black-tan  of  medium  size  and  compact  shape. 
He  is  a  dog  of  intense  force  and  courage,  and  is 
already  prominent  as  a  sire.  Veteran  field  trial 
followers  insist  that  his  style  at  work  was  Glad- 
stone's over  again. 

Lady's  Count  Gladstone  is  a  dog  much  like 
Oakley  Hill  in  color  and  conformation.  He  is 
the  premier  of  the  Count  Gladstone  IV-Dan's 
Lady  family.  He  won  his  field  trial  champion- 
ship after  a  comparatively  short  experience  and 
against  the  pick  of  the  country. 

Among  the  young  dogs  one  of  the  most  notable 


8o  The  Sporting  Dog 

is  Marse  Ben,  not  only  because  he  is  a  good  dog, 
but  because  of  his  strong  infusion  of  Gleam  blood, 
his  dam,  Mecca  II,  being  inbred  to  Gleam.  His 
sire,  Domoko,  was  a  field  trial  performer,  but  not 
a  winner,  by  Antonio.  Marse  Ben  is  a  strongly 
marked  dog,  above  the  usual  size,  and  of  well- 
knit,  muscular  physique  and  of  essentially  rugged, 
masculine  type.  He  was  in  the  field  just  a  little 
short  of  first-rate  speed  as  compared,  for  instance, 
with  his  competitor,  Mohawk,  but  his  bird  work 
was  astonishingly  clever  in  most  of  his  trials. 
He  beat  Mohawk  at  their  first  meeting.  On  the 
bench  he  would  hardly  be  considered. 

Prince  Rodney  is  a  young  dog  not  unlike  Marse 
Ben  in  appearance  but  better  looking.  He  is  a 
dog  of  great  class,  having  both  speed  and  nose. 
He  was  placed  in  some  of  the  state  trials  in  his 
Derby  year  and  showed  even  better  in  his  all-age 
form.  He  may  be  called  the  chief  of  the  Lady's 
Count  Gladstone-Jessie  Rodfield  family.  Rodney's 
full  brother,  Count  Whitestone,  has  been  called 
the  most  stylish  and  graceful  setter  in  the  field 
among  those  seen  in  public  since  the  state  trials 
were  inaugurated. 

Before  the  story  of  the  Llewellin  individuals  is 
concluded,  a  word  should  be  said  of  Dashing 
Dixie,  the  winner  of  the  Indiana  all-age  stake  of 
1889.  She  was  owned  by  Judge  Guinotte  of 
Kansas  City,  and  was  a  sv/eet  and  handsome  as 


LLEWELLIN.     LIGHT  WEIGHT 

Champion  Peach  Blossom.  By  Count  Gladstone  IV-Peach  Mark.  Her  dam, 
Peach  Mark,  herself  the  best  California  setter  of  her  year,  was  a  granddaughter  of 
imported  Dick  Bondhu  and  of  Gath"s  Mark.  Peach  Blossom  weighs  thirty-five  pounds, 
is  very  fast,  stylish,  and  clever  on  birds.  After  beating  the  best  dogs  in  California,  she 
came  East  and  won  the  Illinois  Club's  championship,  November,  1903.  She  is  an 
important  study  in  Llewellin  setters  because  she  is  the  most  typical  living  repre- 
sentative of  the  Count  Gladstone  IV  blood  ;  and  because  she  represents  in  its  extreme 
form  the  small,  compact,  high-strung  field-trial  Llewellin  which  has  been  for  years  a 
subject  of  controversy  among  the  setter  men.  In  the  kennel  she  is  an  affectionate  pet, 
vivacious  and  intelligent.  In  the  field  she  is  dashing  and  brilliant.  Her  peculiar  car- 
riage of  tail  on  point  is  shown  in  the  photograph,  taken  by  the  author.  Her  owner  is 
Mr.  W.  W.  Van  Arsdale,  Bakersfield,  California. 


LLEWELLIN.     GLEAM   TYPE 

Prince  Lyndon.  By  Marie's  Sport-West  Wind  by  Roderigo.  White-black-tan. 
Performed  the  remarkable  feat  of  coming  out  in  1903  at  seven  years  old,  after  several 
seasons  as  a  shooting  dog,  and  winning  first  in  public  trials  on  chicken,  beating  noted 
winners.  Shows  the  prepotent  Gleam  characteristic  of  rugged,  aggressive  bird-finding. 
Photograph  bad  in  foreshortening,  but  good  of  the  dog's  front.  Taken  when  two 
years  old.  Lyndon's  weight  is  about  fifty-five  pounds.  Bred  and  owned  by  Dr.  W.  G. 
Moore,  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  The  position  of  the  dog  here  shows  the  fashion  of  tug- 
ging on  the  lead,  which  is  encouraged  by  many  field-trial  handlers  to  promote  eager- 
ness, quickness,  and  dash  in  the  breakaway  when  cast  off  in  public  competition. 


American  Llewellins  8i 

well  as  high-class  setter,  being  black,  white,  and 
belton.  She  deserves  special  mention  on  account 
of  her  pedigree.  She  was  inbred  to  the  Dash 
blood,  being  a  granddaughter  of  both  Dash  II  and 
his  full  brother,  Dash  III.  After  being  retired 
she  was  bred  to  Roderigo,  and  her  two  sons,  Dixie's 
Rod  and  Cap  Tough,  have  both  left  descendants 
of  note. 

Two  peculiarities  of  Marie's  Sport  bid  fair  to 
live  long  and  crop  out  often  in  his  descendants. 
He  had  an  odd  tail  —  long,  ropy,  and  carried  ex- 
tremely high  over  his  back  with  a  sidewise  twist. 
His  coat  was  harsh  and  rough.  These  two  points 
appear  in  his  celebrated  son,  Sport's  Boy,  the 
lemon-and-white  winner  of  the  first  Interstate 
Champion  stake.  Boy  is  a  small  dog,  but  built 
like  a  steel  machine.  He  is  so  good  in  utility 
points  of  construction  that  Mr.  Davidson,  usually 
a  stickler  for  quality,  placed  him  above  some  re- 
spectable winners  on  the  bench.  He  has  his  sire's 
long  and  poorly  feathered  tail  and  roughish  tex- 
ture of  coat.  In  speed  he  rates  with  the  best,  and 
when  he  is  right,  his  endurance  and  bird  work  are 
unsurpassed. 

It  has  happened  that  the  best  four  sons  of 
Marie's  Sport  have  belonged  to  four  of  my  per- 
sonal friends;  Sport's  Gath  to  Mr.  Charles  A. 
Robinson,  Sport's  Boy  to  Mr.  Charles  B.  Cooke, 
Sport's  Solomon  to  Judge  Ledbetter,  and  Prince 


82  The  Sporting  Dog 

Lyndon  to  Dr.  W.  G.  Moore.  The  remarkable 
prepotency  of  the  Gleam  blood  is  seen  in  all  four 
of  these  dogs.  The  peculiar  determination  of 
their  bird  hunting  is  different  in  style  from  the 
Count  Noble  and  Gladstone  way  of  going  —  dif- 
ferent but  not  necessarily  better  —  and  betrays 
the  Gleam  influence.  Prince  Lyndon,  in  my 
judgment,  is  decidedly  the  best  dog  of  the  four 
in  the  most  desirable  elements  of  setter  quality, 
though  the  least  meteoric.  He  has  for  years  been 
one  of  my  favorites,  —  ever  since  I  saw  him,  when 
just  grown,  become  in  a  day  the  king  of  the  ken- 
nel among  thirty  dogs  he  had  never  seen  before. 
And  he  was  not  quarrelsome,  only  masterful. 
When  this  season,  after  having  been  used  as  a 
shooting  dog  all  his  life,  he  came  out,  seven  years 
old,  and  won  first  place  on  prairie  chicken  against 
an  array  which  included  Captain  Jack,  Alford's 
John,  Lad  of  Jingo,  and  Sure  Shot,  I  could  not 
have  found  more  pleasure  in  the  rare  feat  if  he 
had  been  mine.  For  he  is  a  genuine  dog.  He 
is  of  good  color,  of  the  right  size,  strong  without 
coarseness,  excellent  in  bench  type,  and  better 
than  all,  of  bold,  cheerful  and  independent  char- 
acter. As  I  write,  he  is  the  latest  Llewellin  celeb- 
rity, and  I  doubt  whether  there  has  ever  been  a 
Llewellin  celebrity  more  satisfying  to  the  disinter- 
ested sportsman.  The  setter  which  has  surpassed 
him  in  the  chicken  trials  of  1903,  McKinley,  is  a 


American  Llewellins  83 

much  younger  dog  with  better  field  trial  opportu- 
nities. McKinley  is  a  real  dog,  too,  and  is  entitled 
to  all  respect.  He  continues  the  blood  of  two  great 
Llevvellin  winners,  Count  Gladstone  IV  and  Lil- 
lian Russell,  but  is  what  the  faddists  call  "  cold  " 
on  his  dam's  side.  He  is  a  well  bred  English 
setter,  but  not  a  "pure"  Llewellin  —  the  worse 
for  the  "pures." 

He  resembles  Rodfield  closely  in  style,  size, 
form,  and  marking.  One  would  say  that,  with 
his  bench  form  and  blood  lines,  he  is  due  to  be 
a  great  setter  sire.  It  is  an  additional  pleasure  to 
the  sportsman  to  see  that  Mr.  Duryea's  Mohawk, 
after  his  special  style  another  true  bird  dog 
whose  reputation  is  no  accident,  subdued  his 
brilliancy  of  wide  ranging  long  enough  to  win 
the  championship  on  chicken  —  that  of  the  Mani- 
toba Club.  Mohawk  has  also  beaten  the  first- 
raters  in  some  of  the  autumn  quail  trials,  and  has, 
in  1903,  the  admitted  best  among  field  trial 
setters'  records  as  to  class.  All  three  of  these 
Llewellins  are  fit  to  prolong  the  race  of  English 
setters. 


CHAPTER   VI 

LAVERACKS    IN    AMERICA 

Purists  who  love  exactitudes  say  that  there  are 
few  real  Laveracks  now  living.  Two  or  three 
investigators  have,  with  a  flourish,  brought  out 
from  obscurity  specimens  which  come  down  with- 
out outside  cross  from  the  Laverack  kennel  and, 
according  to  the  Laverack  creed,  straight  from 
Ponto  and  Old  Moll.  Broadly  speaking,  all  this 
is  an  error  likely  to  lead  to  confusion ;  just  as  an 
attempt  to  narrow  the  definition  of  Llewellin 
threatens  the  same  result.  Most  of  the  modern 
bench-show  Laveracks  have  such  an  overwhelm- 
ing preponderance  of  straight  Laverack  blood 
and  have  been  so  carefully  bred  for  type  that  it 
would  be  an  error  to  call  them  by  any  other  name. 
In  all  truth  they  are  more  highly  perfected  Laver- 
acks than  anything  Mr.  Laverack  himself  ever 
bred.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Llewellin,  I  shall 
give  to  such  dogs  the  name  to  which  they  are 
entitled  by  their  type  and  essential  blood  lines. 

Even  Mr.  Laverack's  harshest  critics,  Dr.  Walsh 
(Stonehenge)  and  Rev.  Mr.  Pierce  (Idstone),  ad- 
mitted that  his  dogs  had  high  quality,  uniformity 

84 


MODERN    LAVERACK 

Ulverstone  Rap  (imported).  Owner,  Mr.  George  C.  Thomas,  Jr.,  Philadelphia. 
Winner  in  the  later  spring  shows  of  1903.  Held  by  Laverack  specialists  to  be  the 
most  typical  Laverack  shown  for  years.  Beaten  in  the  fall  at  Ladies"  Kennel  Associa- 
tion and  Brooklyn  fall  shows  by  Mallwyd  Bang  and  Lingfield  Bragg,  both  Laveracks, 
but  still  regarded  by  expert  judges  as  better  than  either  in  head  and  general  symmetry. 
Schreiber"s  photograph  shows  clearly  this  dog"s  rarely  chiselled  muzzle  and  skull  and 
well-balanced  conformation.  Compare  his  head,  feather  and  carriage  of  tail  with  those 
points  in  the  Llewellins,  Colonel  R.  and  Rodfield's  Pride.  The  difference  of  type  will 
be  at  once  plain. 


MODhRN    LAVERACK 

Champion  Mallwyd  Sirdar  (imported).  Owner.  Mr.  George  C.  Thomas,  Jr., 
Philadelphia.  Exceptionally  fine  action  for  bench  show.  Laverack  of  a  type  admired  by 
both  fanciers  and  shooting  men.  Sirdar  has  an  advantage  over  most  Laveracks  in 
free,  strong  movement.  He  has  already  sired  a  free-going  young  Laverack  in  Albert's 
Sirdar,  and  several  really  good  field  dogs  from  Llewellin  dams.  If  any  Laverack 
crosses  well  with  American  Llewellins,  it  will  probably  be  Mallwyd  Sirdar. 


Laveracks  in  America  85 

of  appearance,  and  abundant  pointing  tendency. 
They  also  gave  the  females,  at  least,  credit  for 
good  speed  and  action.  The  fault  which  Stone- 
henge  particularly  noted  in  the  Laveracks  seemed 
in  nearly  all  cases  to  turn  up  again  in  this  country. 
These  dogs  had  not  the  hunting  versatility,  deci- 
sion, and  resourcefulness  which  mark  field  per- 
formers of  the  first  rank. 

Most  of  the  notable  importations  of  Laveracks 
in  the  '70's  were  made  with  reference  to  crossing 
on  the  Llewellin  stock  after  Mr.  Llewellin's  own 
example.  Mr.  L.  H.  Smith  of  Canada  brought 
over  several  and  reported  in  the  public  prints  of 
the  time  that  they  were  satisfactory  in  speed  and 
hunting  instinct,  but  of  little  value  as  shooting 
dogs.  Since  Mr.  Llewellin  always  said  the  same 
thing  of  Phantom,  Lill,  and  the  other  Laverack 
bitches  from  which  he  bred  after  succeeding  with 
Countess  and  Nellie,  there  seems  to  be  not  much 
to  say  in  favor  of  the  value  of  the  pure  Laverack 
dogs  of  that  time  on  either  American  or  English 
game.  Petrel,  Peeress,  Victress,  and  others  of 
Mr.  Smith's  kennel  came  under  the  verdict  which 
was  rendered  in  England  against  Phantom  and 
Lill.  Yet  in  both  countries  these  bitches,  of  small 
value  in  the  field,  produced  great  bird  dogs.  And 
the  modern  Laveracks  are  generally  fair  shooting 
dogs. 

Laveracks  in  America  are  most  important  from 


86  The  Sporting  Dog 

two  standpoints :  first,  their  bearing  as  a  factor  in 
the  LlevvelHn  blood ;  second,  their  record  on  the 
show  benches.  The  first  need  not  be  mentioned 
here,  since  it  is  part  of  the  Llewellin  history. 

On  the  bench  the  Laveracks  have  had  in  this 
country,  as  in  England,  the  favor  of  all  the  judges 
who  are  sticklers  for  "  fancy."  Mr.  John  David- 
son, one  of  the  most  popular  of  American  bench- 
show  judges,  said  to  me  once  that  it  is  impossible 
to  judge  a  setter  without  considering  primarily 
head,  coat,  and  stern.  Those,  he  said,  were  the 
points  which  made  a  setter  different  from  other 
dogs.  "  Any  mongrel,"  he  continued,  "  can  have 
good  chest,  shoulders,  feet,  and  legs,  but  if  a  dog 
has  not  a  setter  coat,  he  is  not  a  setter."  Mr. 
Davidson  probably  expressed  the  general  thought 
which  has  governed  the  long  line  of  judges  in 
both  countries  who  have  maintained  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Laverack  type  on  the  benches.  It  w^as 
difficult  for  a  judge  of  the  old  days  to  set  aside  a 
dog  like  Thunder  in  favor  of  a  setter  of  inferior 
quality;  as  in  our  time  few  of  them  can  ignore 
Mallwyd  Sirdar. 

Since  there  is  no  dispute  about  the  Laverack 
type  and  very  little  about  its  breeding,  the  story 
in  America  is  soon  told,  though  it  has  an  interest 
in  many  directions.  In  the  field  the  Laveracks 
have  been  more  used  and  more  useful  than  the 
public    records    would    indicate.       Especially   in 


Laveracks  in  America  87 

New  England  they  have  been  highly  regarded 
by  many  good  sportsmen  and  seemed  to  make 
agreeable  shooting  companions.  In  the  West 
and  South,  on  the  other  hand,  they  have  not 
been  favored. 

Of  the  modern  Laveracks,  the  beautiful  dogs 
shown  for  several  years  by  Mr.  Windholz  of  New 
York  may  be  taken  as  the  beginning.  In  1889 
he  showed  Champion  Rockingham,  Champion 
Count  Howard,  and  Champion  Cora  of  Wetheral, 
and  it  was  a  beautiful  exhibition.  Rockingham 
was  a  blue  belton  of  good  show  points  in  all 
respects,  as  his  long  list  of  successes  indicates. 
Count  Howard  was  a  much  larger  dog  of  the 
same  color.  His  skull  was  rather  too  large  and 
heavy  even  for  his  size,  and  his  lip  deep  to  the 
point  of  looseness.  Mr.  Windholz  also  bred  a 
handsome  one  in  Princess  Beatrice. 

About  the  same  time  Royal  Prince  II  was 
shown  in  competition  with  the  Windholz  dogs. 
He  was  a  more  compact  and  smoothly  turned 
specimen  of  the  blue  belton  color.  In  the  years 
following,  the  Laverack  type  was  conspicuous  in 
Champion  Sheldon,  Champion  Gilhooley,  Cham- 
pion Highland  Fleet,  all  bred  on  this  side,  and 
others  w^ell  known  to  fanciers. 

It  is  likely  that  Monk  of  Furness  was,  taking 
the  country  over,  used  in  the  stud  more  than  any 
other  of  the  imported  Laveracks.     He  was  almost 


88  The  Sporting  Dog 

entirely  white,  the  markings  being  very  sHght. 
He  was  a  dog  of  beautiful  head  and  general  con- 
tour, rather  stiff  and  stilty  in  his  action.  A  great 
many  of  his  descendants,  now  amalgamated  with 
the  Llewellins,  are  to  be  found  through  the  West. 

Highland  Fleet  made  more  admirers  among 
the  Llewellin  men  than  most  Laveracks.  He  was 
an  orange  belton  of  medium  size  and  neatly 
turned ;  having  an  appearance  and  action  which 
suggested  travelling  ability.  Several  gentlemen 
who  shot  over  him  spoke  highly  of  his  field  qual- 
ities. He  was  good  on  birds  and  had  enough 
speed  for  the  New  England  shooting. 

Gilhooley  was  another  orange  belton.  With 
Highland  Fleet  and  Orangeman,  he  stood  at  the 
head  of  his  tribe  two  or  three  years.  He  was  a 
larger  dog  than  Highland  Fleet  and  of  more 
strength  and  power  but  less  quality. 

There  has  been  a  sharp  revival  of  the  Laverack 
fancy,  the  starting-point  having  been  the  importa- 
tion of  the  orange  belton.  Barton  Tory,  in  1900; 
though,  perhaps,  the  movement  may  be  said  to 
have  been  started  with  Albert's  Woodcock,  brought 
over  a  year  or  two  before.  Woodcock  was  rather 
a  heavy  dog  with  a  typical  Laverack  head  and  a 
well-marked  orange  belton  coat.  The  owners  of 
Woodcock's  puppies  seemed  to  have  been  un- 
lucky. Most  of  them  died  from  one  cause  or 
another.      Barton    Tory  was    exhibited    by    Mr. 


Laveracks  in  America  89 

Vandergrift  of  Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania.  Few  dogs 
have  ever  surpassed  him  in  quahty.  He  had  a  hand- 
some head  and  ahiiost  perfect  shoulders  and  front. 
His  weak  point  was  a  lack  of  proportion  between 
his  strong  foreparts  and  his  quarters.  In  any- 
thing like  thin  condition  he  looked  almost  as 
if  he  might  have  been  made  up  of  two  dogs. 

Mallwyd  Sirdar  followed  Barton  Tory  and  de- 
feated him  when  they  first  met.  Sirdar,  owned 
by  Mr.  George  C.  Thomas,  Jr.,  of  Philadelphia,  is 
a  rangier  dog  than  Tory  and  has  remarkably  sty- 
lish and  free  action  for  a  Laverack.  Judges  who 
make  a  specialty  of  that  type  have  said  that  Sir- 
dar's skull  and  muzzle  are  the  finest  seen  for  many 
years.  His  faults  are  eyes  of  light  color  and  some 
looseness  of  elbow. 

In  the  show  season  of  1903  the  crack  Laverack 
was  Mr.  Thomas's  Rumney  Racket,  which,  with 
his  kennel  companion,  Madcap,  did  a  great  deal 
of  winning.  Like  Highland  Fleet,  he  pleases  the 
Llewellin  men  more  than  does  the  average  Laver- 
ack. He  is  a  handsome  blue  belton  of  good  size 
and  rangy  conformation.  Some  judges  think  that 
Dr.  Hair's  Rumney  Ranger  has  a  better  head 
than  Racket,  but  loses  in  other  respects.  Other 
Laveracks  of  beautiful  heads,  coats,  and  quality 
have  been  Bracken  o'  Leek,  Flirt  o'  Leek,  and 
Queen's  Place  Pride.  Mr.  Thomas  has  lately 
brought  over  Ulverstone  Rap,  and  this  dog  now 


go  The  Sporting  Dog 

stands  as,  taken  all  in  all,  the  best  Laverack  in 
America. 

These  recent  importations  have  usually  the 
lines  of  blood  represented  by  Count  Howard 
and  Monk  of  Furness,  coming  down  from  Tam 
o'  Shanter. 

A  setter  of  Laverack  breeding  which  deserves 
special  mention  is  Champion  Sue  H.,  a  large 
lemon  belton.  She  won  a  number  of  times  in 
the  hands  of  Mr.  James  Cole  of  Kansas  City  as 
well  as  after  he  disposed  of  her.  If  she  had  been 
better  in  hocks  and  pasterns,  she  would  have  been 
hard  to  beat  anywhere.  Bred  to  John  Davidson's 
Llewellin,  Donald  Bane,  she  produced,  among 
others,  a  dog  called  Ray,  and  he  became  the  sire 
of  Cole's  Lady,  a  good  winner  on  the  bench. 
Bred  to  Cincinnatus's  Pride,  Cole's  Lady  produced 
Lady  Cole,  a  white-and-black  setter  which  some 
judges  regard  as  the  most  beautiful  setter  now  in 
this  country.  Lady  Cole  always  won  whenever 
shown,  but  has  not  been  at  any  of  the  Eastern 
shows  since  her  debut  in  the  puppy  class  in  New 
York.  Her  puppies  by  Oakley  Hill,  however, 
won  blue  ribbons  in  the  New  York  show  of  1903. 
While  Lady  Cole  is  not  a  Laverack,  she  is  cer- 
tainly not  a  Llewellin,  and  as  she  is  likely  to  be 
an  important  figure  in  the  breeding  records,  I 
mention  her  among  the  bench-show  setters.  She 
is  of  medium  size,  white,  with  the  exception  of 


Lavemcks  in  America  91 

her  ears,  and  slightly  ticked.  Her  skull  and 
muzzle  are  wonderfully  good,  though  some  critics 
would  call  them  a  little  too  refined.  In  fact,  it  is 
difficult  to  find  serious  fault  with  her  anywhere  ex- 
cept on  the  general  ground  that  she  has  too  much  of 
the  "  fancy  "  appearance  to  suit  sportsmen.  In  jus- 
tice to  her  breeder  it  is  proper  to  say  that  in  this  re- 
spect the  impression  is  made  rather  by  her  color, 
since  she  possesses  more  than  the  average  bone 
and  muscle  shown  by  bitches  of  her  size. 

There  are  two  setters  of  the  last-mentioned  kind 
of  breeding  which  are  not  Laveracks,  but  prop- 
erly, perhaps,  belong  in  the  same  group,  espe- 
cially since  both  of  them  received  distinguished 
consideration  from  Mr.  Mortimer,  the  dean  of  the 
American  corps  of  judges.  One  of  these  setters, 
Winner's  Victoria,  I  have  never  had  any  hesita- 
tion in  calling  the  nearest  to  faultless  among  dogs 
of  the  general  Laverack  type.  She  was  bred 
almost  a  straight  Llewellin,  but  the  fact  of  her 
appearance  merely  goes  to  show  the  deep  influ- 
ence of  the  Laverack  blood  in  the  Llewellins. 
She  was  a  blue  belton,  weighing  forty-five  pounds, 
and  built  on  what  would  be  called  cobby  lines. 
Her  symmetry  was  little  short  of  perfection. 
Llewellin  judges  did  not  fancy  her  much  on 
account  of  her  cobbiness.  However,  it  should  be 
said  that  she  probably  never  was  shown  in  pre- 
cisely  fit    condition   except   twice.     Her  owner 


92  Tbe  Sporting  Dog 

cared  little  about  dogs,  and  she  was  nearly  always 
either  too  fat  or  otherwise  below  herself  in  looks. 
Mr.  Mortimer  lifted  her  into  the  highest  honors 
at  the  Kansas  City  show  in  1900.  She  was  put 
down  there  in  perfect  condition.  He  gave  her  a 
special  for  the  best  setter,  beneath  her  being 
Highland  Fleet,  Albert's  Woodcock,  Sue  H., 
Vic's  Vic,  and  others  of  a  very  strong  English 
setter  class.  I  have  not  a  catalogue  of  that  show 
at  hand,  but  my  recollection  is  that  the  Irish 
setters,  Champion  Ben  Law  and  Champion  Lord 
Lismore,  were  in  the  list  which  she  beat.  In 
the  special  for  the  best  dog  of  any  breed  in  the 
show,  Mr.  Mortimer  hesitated  some  time  between 
her  and  the  Great  Dane,  Sandor  vom  Inn,  finally 
picking  Sandor,  putting  her  above  quite  a  list  of 
clever  winners. 

The  other  dog  to  which  I  refer  is  Topgallant, 
a  large  blue  belton,  w^eighing,  I  learn,  over  sixty 
pounds.  Mr.  Mortimer  picked  him  for  emphatic 
praise  at  the  Chicago  show  of  1901,  though  the 
dog  did  not  get  a  ribbon  from  the  judge.  Top- 
gallant won  the  North  American  Club  Derby  in 
the  fall  of  1900.  He  is  said  to  be  a  magnificent 
bird  dog,  and  he  is  certainly  most  impressive  in 
appearance,  though  I  have  never  called  him  a 
bench-show  dog  under  the  usual  standards.  He 
is  owned  by  Mr.  H.  Marshall  Graydon  of  London, 
Ontario.     He  is  a  grandson  of  Champion  Monk 


Laveracks  in  America  93 

of  Furness,  but  the  striking  point  in  his  breed- 
ing is  his  many  lines  to  London,  the  once  well- 
known  son  of  Mr.  Smith's  famous  Paris.  If  the 
English  setter  men  of  this  country  are  looking  for 
size  and  vigor,  they  might  very  well  give  attention 
to  this  handsome  Canadian. 

There  would  be  a  gap  in  an  account  of  the 
*  Laverack  type  if  the  unflagging  courage  of  Dr.  J. 
E.  Hair,  of  Hartford,  Connecticut,  were  not  men- 
tioned. Dr.  Hair  has  been  faithful  to  the  typical 
bench-show  setter.  He  has  owned  Albert's 
Woodcock,  Highland  Fleet,  Beau  Brummel, 
Rumney  Ranger,  and  a  long  list  of  the  modern 
Laveracks,  having  shown  specimens  almost  every 
season  for  fifteen  years  or  more. 

Laverack  color  has  come  to  be  almost  entirely 
blue  belton  or  orange  belton,  —  the  markings 
which  Mr.  Laverack  preferred.  Though  there  are 
belton  Llewellins  and  white-black-tan  Laveracks, 
neither  is  quite  typical  as  a  rule.  Belton  Llew- 
ellins commonly  have  a  muddy  look,  and  the 
heavily  marked  Laveracks  are  seldom  shown  in 
public.  Some  of  the  bench-show  breeders  in 
England  have  crossed  successfully  on  the  Llewel- 
lins, especially  on  those  strong  in  Dash  H  blood. 
On  the  other  hand,  American  Llewellin  breeders 
have  produced  some  fairly  good  show  specimens 
from  using  English  Laveracks  as  a  cross. 

In  the  modern  Laveracks,  bred  largely  for  the 


94  The  Sporting  Dog 

bench  qualities  of  coat  and  head,  the  hunting 
powers  have,  as  a  matter  of  course,  suffered ;  and 
yet  these  dogs  are  not  parlor  dogs,  or,  as  Mr. 
Buckell  calls  them,  "diseased  Laveracks."  Not 
only  are  some  of  the  "  pure  "  ones  excellent  shoot- 
ing dogs,  but  when  crossed  with  the  Llewellin, 
they  usually  produce  attractive  and  satisfactory 
performers,  though  not  often  approaching  any- 
where near  field  trial  class.  Most  of  the  Monk 
of  Furness  blood  as  mingled  with  the  Llewellin 
gave  good-looking  dogs  which  were  easily  broken 
and  were  highly  valued  by  their  owners.  At  the 
same  time,  it  must  be  confessed  that  no  one 
could  see  where  Monk  of  Furness  added  any- 
thing of  utility  —  the  most  to  be  said  being  that 
he  did  not  cause  any  degeneration  of  hunting 
instinct  or  finding  abilities. 

In  connection  with  Monk  of  Furness  and  other 
modern  Laveracks,  I  may,  at  the  risk  of  giving 
offence  to  the  owners  of  such  dogs,  mention  a 
circumstance  which  has  seemed  to  me  peculiar. 
It  is  that  there  is  more  difficulty  in  breeding 
Laveracks  structurally  correct  than  Llewellins. 
I  should  not  call  my  own  experience  so  extensive 
as  to  be  conclusive,  but  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten 
the  modern  Laveracks  in  this  country  seem  to  me 
to  breed  such  blemishes  as  bad  pasterns  and 
hocks,  ill-shaped  feet,  wrongly  set  shoulders,  and 
flat  heads.     Almost  invariably  they  reproduce  a 


Laveracks  in  America  95 

coat  of  fine  quality  and  a  good  setter  expression, 
but  in  the  points  mentioned  they  do  not  seem  to 
equal  the  Llewellins  in  uniformity  of  results.  I 
bred  several  litters  from  imported  bench  winners 
and  their  immediate  descendants,  and  have  owned 
and  seen  quite  a  number  having  the  blood  of 
Monk  of  Furness.  My  own  observation  of  these 
breeding  defects  is  confirmed  by  reports  I  have 
received  from  a  few  other  breeders.  I  suppose 
that  the  fact  is  due  to  the  exaggerated  attention 
paid  to  the  coat  by  bench-show  breeders.  If  my 
own  somewhat  limited  observation  represents  a 
general  rule,  it  explains  why  the  purely  bench- 
show  Laverack  in  America  never  bred  on.  It 
seems  as  if  the  exhibitors  were  compelled  con- 
stantly to  go  to  England  to  find  winners. 

In  their  own  field  of  beauty  and  distinction  of 
appearance  the  modern  Laveracks  are  not  only 
the  superiors  of  other  English  setters,  but  are,  per- 
haps, the  handsomest  and  most  bloodlike  of  all 
dogs.  Owners  also  find  them  attractive  and 
affectionate  companions.  One  would  suppose 
that  some  way  could  be  devised  to  blend  their 
superb  quality  with  the  speed  and  field  work  of 
the  later  Llewellins.  Since,  however,  it  has  been 
tried  many  times  without  encouraging  results,  per- 
haps the  history  of  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  will 
be  that  the  Laverack  with  its  specialized  develop- 
ment of  fancy  points  will  lead  on  the  benches, 


96  The  Sporting  Dog 

while  the  plainer  but  more  workmanlike  LlewelHn 
will  be  in  control  of  public  competition  on  game ; 
the  private  owner  being,  according  to  his  taste,  a 
Laverack  fancier  or  a  LlewelHn  shooting  man. 
Mr.  Thomas  has  on  the  largest  scale  yet  at- 
tempted begun  to  introduce  Laverack  blood.  It 
is  only  justice  to  say  that  this  fall  (1903)  he  sent 
a  brace  of  young  ones  to  a  prominent  Western 
field  trial  handler  who  told  me  that  they  had 
speed  and  range  for  the  work,  with  all  the 
Laverack  beauty  of  head  and  coat.  Distemper 
stopped  their  training.  They  were  by  a  Laver- 
ack sire  out  of  LlewelHn  dams. 

Setter  type  —  correct  type,  true  type,  old  type, 
are  some  of  the  terms  used  —  has  misled  some 
judges  who  have  handled  principally  the  fancy 
stock  of  various  breeds  at  bench  shows  and  have 
made  no  special  study  of  English  setters.  They 
think  of  type  only  as  Laverack.  Laveracks,  when 
good,  have  peerless  beauty,  but  not  the  old  type 
of  Stonehenge.  More  Llewellins  than  Laveracks 
are  of  thoroughly  sound  type.  Cincinnatus's 
Pride,  essentially  LlewelHn  in  type,  though  not 
"  straight  "  in  pedigree,  is  a  more  soundly  typical 
English  setter  than  any  Laverack  ever  shown  in 
the  country.  So  is  Selkirk  Dan,  the  Canadian ; 
and  so  is  Oakley  Hill,  barring  his  head.  So  is 
McKinley;  so  is  Sport's  Gath ;  so  is  Prince  Rod- 
ney ;  so  are  several  other  of  the  fastest  and  best 
field  trial  winners. 


CHAPTER   VII 

IRISH    AND    GORDON    SETTERS 

While  it  is  an  admitted  fact  that  Irish  setters 
have  not  held  their  own  either  in  pubHc  events 
or  in  the  favor  of  private  sportsmen,  there  is  one 
contrary  fact  which  lends  to  this  state  of  things 
a  trifle  of  perplexity.  A  large  number  of 
thorough-going  field  shots  who  have  owned  and 
seen  numbers  of  dogs  say  that  the  best  setters 
they  ever  used  were  Irish.  I  have  in  mind  ten 
or  twelve  gentlemen  in  different  parts  of  the 
country  who  make  this  statement  when  talking 
of  their  experiences.  An  example  worth  men- 
tioning is  that  of  Mr.  Charles  W.  Scudder  of  St. 
Louis.  Few  sportsmen  anywhere  have  either 
owned  or  shot  over  as  many  good  dogs  as  Mr. 
Scudder.  For  many  years  he  has  constantly 
kept  a  picked  string  of  ten  or  twelve  in  training  and 
has  made  no  discrimination  in  favor  of  any  breed. 
Sometimes  the  majority  of  his  dogs  are  pointers, 
and  in  other  years  he  has  more  of  setters. 
Frequently  they  are  field  trial  performers.  He 
tells  me  without  reservation  that  the  best  doer  he 
ever  had  was  an  Irish  setter,  which  he  describes 

H  97 


98  The  Sporting  Dog 

as  fast,  stanch,  handy  on  birds,  and  always  ready 
for  work.  He  admits,  however,  that  it  took  two 
seasons  to  train  the  dog,  and  that  during  the  first 
year  the  animal  would  seldom  point  at  all.  Here, 
perhaps,  lies  one  explanation  of  the  Irish  setter's 
loss  of  favor.  It  is  certainly  true  that  it  has  not 
the  natural  pointing  instinct  or  judgment  in 
locating  birds  to  the  degree  shown  in  pointers 
and  English  setters. 

Before  the  country  which  is  now  the  Territory 
of  Oklahoma  was  open  to  settlement,  I  was  out 
one  day  on  the  prairie  with  the  late  General,  then 
Captain,  Woodson  of  the  regular  army,  a  keen 
sportsman  and  an  educated  critic  of  dogs.  A 
friend  had  sent  him  a  beautiful  Irish  setter  some- 
thing over  a  year  old.  The  captain  took  the 
youngster  out  this  day  to  give  him  a  trial  on 
birds.  The  dog  started  out  in  attractive  fashion, 
ranging  fast  and  with  high  head  on  both  sides  of 
the  wagon  as  we  drove  along.  Prairie  chicken  and 
quail  were  both  abundant  in  those  days  of 
Oklahoma.  In  a  few  minutes  the  Irishman 
struck  a  "bunch"  of  chicken.  He  did  not  make 
game  or  hesitate,  but  dashed  through  them  as  if 
they  had  been  so  many  flies,  and  went  ranging 
along  as  bhthely  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 
The  captain  uttered  a  few  muttered  maledictions, 
but  fancied  that  the  dog  would  settle  down  after 
a  little  more    running.     Ten    minutes   later   the 


Irish  and  Gordon  Setters  99 

performance  was  repeated.  The  dog  galloped 
straight  through  a  covey  without  looking  to  the 
right  or  left  or  appearing  in  the  least  interested 
in  the  birds.  Captain  Woodson  remarked  that  if 
the  rascal  would  even  chase,  he  would  be  satisfied 
to  give  it  further  education.  But  not  once  during 
the  entire  run  was  there  evidence  that  the  dog 
recognized  game.  He  passed  into  the  hands  of 
somebody  else  in  a  few  days,  and  I  do  not  know 
what  was  his  further  development.  Very  likely, 
however,  if  the  captain  had  turned  the  dog  over 
to  a  trainer,  a  season  of  experience  would  have 
brought  back  a  well-established  and  valuable 
shooting  colleague. 

Irish  setters  are  indisputably  satisfactory  to  a 
great  many  sportsmen.  Those  which  are  good 
are  hardy  hunters,  excellent  retrievers,  and  ready 
for  either  water  or  weather.  The  fact  that  they 
do  not  reach  their  best  until  three  or  four  years 
old  operates  against  them.  I  might  record 
another  feature  of  the  Irish  setter  character 
which  I  have  never  seen  mentioned.  Though  the 
good  ones  are  bold  even  to  recklessness,  the  timid 
ones  are  the  most  creepy  and  exasperating  pot- 
terers  I  have  ever  seen  of  any  breed.  This 
trouble  appears  especially  often  on  the  female 
side. 

In  public  field  trials  the  Irish  setters  have  not 
been  able  to  compete  with  pointers  and  English 


loo  The  Sporting  Dog 

setters.  It  seems  impossible  to  give  them  the 
dashing,  get-away  speed  which  the  judges  expect 
in  a  good  stake,  and  they  usually  waste  too  much 
time  on  their  game  when  they  do  find  it.  In  the 
early  days  of  field  trials  they  contested  fairly  well, 
the  rules  then  counting  the  number  of  points  as 
a  standard  of  competition.  In  1879  Erin  II 
made  a  good  showing  in  the  Tennessee  trials, 
and  at  that  same  period  Joe  Jr.,  which  was  half 
Irish,  boomed  himself  by  beating  Gladstone  in  a 
match  race.  The  Irish  setter.  Friend,  actually 
did  some  winning  under  those  early  rules.  After 
field  trials  were  placed  on  a  settled  basis,  the  Irish 
practically  ceased  to  compete,  and  their  entries 
soon  became  rare.  The  breeders  have  never  en- 
tirely given  up  the  idea  of  beating  English  setters 
and  pointers  in  the  field  trials,  but  their  success 
has  not  been  flattering.  Mr.  Washington  of 
Pittsburg  tried  it  in  1890  with  his  handsome  dog, 
Sarsfield.  Mr.  Wenzel  of  Philadelphia  entered 
that  year  his  Ready  II  and  William  H.  in  one  of 
the  principal  Derbies.  Mr.  George  Gray,  also  in 
the  same  Derby,  entered  Tillie  Boru.  She  was 
described  as  the  best  of  the  Irish  entries  of  that 
year  in  speed  and  range.  As  Mr.  Washington 
had  for  a  number  of  years  one  of  the  strongest 
kennels  of  these  setters  in  the  country,  his  lack  of 
success  was  regarded  as  almost  decisive  of  the 
chances   in    field   trials.      Nothing  daunted,  Mr. 


Irish  and  Gordon  Setters  loi 

Bishop  of  Cincinnati  took  up  the  idea  with  Fin- 
glas,  an  imported  Irish  setter  of  unusual  field 
quality,  bringing  across  the  sea  a  considerable 
youthful  reputation.  He  was  by  Fingal  III  out 
of  Aveline  and  from  one  of  the  greatest  British 
strains.  Mr.  Bishop  also  had  the  full  sister,  Cole- 
raine.  In  1892  the  American  Club  was  organ- 
ized on  a  somewhat  new  basis  with  separate 
stakes  for  Irish  setters,  English  setters,  and 
pointers,  the  three  winners  to  run  together  for 
the  absolute.  Finglas  won  first  in  the  Irish  set- 
ter class  and  also  won  the  absolute,  beating  the 
pointer,  Castleman's  Rex,  a  son  of  Mainspring, 
and  the  English  setter.  Hi  Di,  by  Oath's  Hope. 
In  the  Irish  stake  Elcho's  Maid  and  Hope  Boru, 
both  owned  by  Gray  and  handled  by  Mayfield, 
were  second  and  third.  In  the  previous  year 
Coleraine  had  won  second  in  the  all-age  stake  of 
the  Irish  Setter  Club,  in  which  stake  Dr.  Jarvis's 
Duke  Elcho  received  the  rather  peculiar  reward 
of  "  favorable  commendation."  Finglas  and  Cole- 
raine also  competed  in  the  regular  Central  Club's 
stake  in  1892,  but  neither  was  placed.  In  1893 
Fingalin,  by  Finglas  out  of  the  celebrated  bench 
winner,  Ruby  Glenmore,  was  second  to  the  pointer, 
Warwick  Nellie,  in  the  international  Derby  run  in 
Canada.  There  were  eleven  starters,  and  this  win 
must  be  regarded  as  a  feather  in  the  cap  of  the 
Irish  setter.     In  1893  the  Irish  Setter  Club  ran 


I02  The  Sporting  Dog 

its  stakes  at  Thomasville,  North  Carolina.  Mr. 
Thomson's  bitch,  Gem,  by  Shaun,  won  the  Derby, 
with  Nugget  II,  a  daughter  of  Finglas,  second, 
and  Patricius,  a  son  of  Duke  Elcho,  third.  In 
the  all-age  stake  Currer  Bell  IV,  by  Tim  out  of 
Currer  Bell  III,  was  first.  In  1895  the  Irish 
Setter  Club  ran  its  stakes  at  High  Point,  North 
Carolina.  The  Derby  was  won  by  Lady  Finglas, 
a  daughter  of  Finglas  out  of  Lady  Swiveller. 
There  were,  however,  but  two  starters.  In  the 
all-age  stake  Dr.  Davis  won  both  first  and  second 
with  Lou  and  Currer  Maid,  both  by  Finglas  out 
of  Currer  Bell  IV.  This  almost  closes  the  chap- 
ter of  Irish  setter  field  trial  performances,  though 
others  have  occasionally  been  entered,  Mr.  Thomas 
having  started  Prince  Bloomfield  last  season. 

On  the  bench  the  Irish  setter  is  always  attractive 
on  account  of  his  beautiful  color  and  good  move- 
ment. In  numbers  the  exhibit,  however,  is  nearly 
always  small.  Each  class  usually  consists  of  two 
or  three  good  dogs  in  the  hands  of  professional 
handlers,  and  as  many  more  local  specimens  of 
rather  poor  quality.  The  history  of  Irish  setters 
on  the  bench  is  easily  told,  since  there  are  no 
great  differences  of  opinion  which  would  create 
contests.  One  high-class  bench-winning  Irish 
setter  is  much  like  another  —  the  differences  be- 
ing in  relative  detail.  Two  exceptions  to  this 
rule  may  be  noted  in  the  present  champion  Lord 


GORDON    SETTER 

Heather  Crack.     Owned  by  Mr.  William  Clare  Allison,  Philadelphia.     Photograph 
by  Schreiber.     Few  pictures  so  well  illustrate  a  good  Gordon  make-up  and  coat. 


IRISH    SETTER 

Champion  Lord  Lismore.  By  Lord  Elcho,  Jr.-Belle  of  Orange.  Inbred  to  Elcho. 
Owner,  Mr.  J.  S.  Wall,  Chicago.  An  exceptionally  strong  setter  of  perfect  Irish  color. 
When  the  picture  was  taken  he  was  not  at  his  best  in  appearance,  not  having  his  full 
length  of  coat. 


Irish  and  Gordon  Setters  103 

Lismore  and  Mr.  Thomas's  Prince  Bloomfield. 
Lismore  is  one  of  the  handsomest  dogs  now  liv- 
ing, but  is  more  soHdly  built  and  square  in  the 
head  than  the  usual  run  of  Irish  setters.  The 
difference  is  not  great,  but  enough  to  mark  him 
as  almost  a  type  of  his  own.  Prince  Bloomfield 
is  a  typical  Irishman,  but  is  one  of  the  smallest 
specimens  ever  taken  into  a  ring. 

Any  one  can  see  by  glancing  at  the  studbook 
that  one  of  the  great  progenitors  of  Irish  setters 
in  America  was  Elcho.  He  was  the  first  of  the 
great  ones.  His  descendants  are  still  winning 
on  the  bench.  His  best  son  as  a  show  dog  was, 
perhaps,  Elcho  Jr.  Another  son,  a  handsome 
dog  of  the  early  days,  was  Berkeley.  During 
most  of  his  bench  career  this  dog  was  owned  by 
Mr.  Moore  of  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Wenzel  of  Phila- 
delphia was  an  ardent  patron  of  the  breed  for 
years,  and  his  champions,  Tim  and  Chief,  were 
regular  winners.  Another  of  the  early  importa- 
tions was  Erin,  brought  over  by  Mr.  Turner  of 
St.  Louis,  who  had  imported  Elcho  in  company 
with  the  particularly  handsome  bitch.  Loo  II. 
Champion  Laura  B.  was  one  of  the  best  bitches 
on  the  benches  fifteen  years  ago,  her  fine  size  and 
style  making  her  conspicuous  whenever  shown. 

These  imported  reds  of  one  and  two  decades 
ago  are  in  the  pedigrees  of  nearly  all  American 
dogs  of  the  breed  to-day. 


I04  The  Sporting  Dog 

Leigh  Doane  and  her  descendants  were  favor- 
ites around  Philadelphia  for  a  number  of  years. 
An  imported  dog  of  special  reputation  in  the 
field  was  Desmond  II.  He  was  by  the  famous 
British  dog,  Frisco.  He  was  entered  in  the  field 
trials  on  this  side,  but,  like  the  rest  of  his  breed, 
failed  to  distinguish  himself,  though  he  won  first 
place  in  the  Philadelphia  Club's  all-age  stake  of 
1888. 

Among  the  descendants  of  Elcho  the  most 
successful  bench-show  dogs  of  recent  days  are 
Lord  Lismore,  inbred  to  Elcho,  and  Fred  Elcho, 
both  bench  champions.  Mr.  Vandergrift  of  Pitts- 
burg, who  imported  and  showed  so  extensively  in 
various  breeds  for  two  years,  brought  over  a  typi- 
cal and  good  dog  in  Prince  Victor.  All  of  the 
winning  dogs  of  late  years,  in  fact,  have  been  of 
excellent  type,  averaging  better  in  depth  and  rich- 
ness of  color  than  the  champions  of  the  earlier 
period. 

The  books  usually  say  that  the  color  may  be 
deep  red  or  red  with  a  yellow  cast.  In  practice  the 
judges  for  several  years  have  strongly  preferred 
the  deep  mahogany  red,  and  it  is  now  regarded 
as  the  typical  color.  The  general  description  of 
the  Irish  setter  in  the  matter  of  shape  is  that 
of  the  English  setter,  except  that  the  former 
is  higher  on  the  leg  and  narrower  all  through. 
A  lightness  of  muzzle  and  lip  which  would   be 


Irish  and  Gordon  Setters  105 

regarded  as  a  defect  in  an  English  setter  is 
entirely  permissible  in  the  Irish.  Many  of  the 
best  have  the  flank  tucked  up  and  the  loin  curved, 
suggesting  the  contour  of  a  greyhound.  These 
greyhound  lines,  however,  do  not  make  extreme 
speed.  A  good  Irish  setter  is  fast,  but  the  speed 
is  not  that  of  field  trials.  It  is  galloping  rather 
than  running. 

Mr.  Guthrie  of  Mexico,  Missouri,  and  some 
other  gentlemen  in  the  West  have  recently  dis- 
cussed the  plan  of  selecting  specially  fast  and 
heady  Irish  setters  with  the  object  of  breeding 
them  up  to  field  trial  class.  It  is  much  to  be 
desired  that  gentlemen  like  Mr.  Guthrie,  who 
has  abundant  means  and  is  an  indefatigable  stu- 
dent of  the  breeding  science,  will  pursue  this 
object  perseveringly.  Whether  or  not  he  suc- 
ceeds in  meeting  the  English  setters  and  pointers 
on  equal  terms,  he  is  at  least  likely  to  restore  to 
some  extent  the  old  popularity  of  a  breed  which 
has  great  utility  as  a  hardy,  ready,  and  reliable 
bird  dog. 

The  Gordons  have  been  even  less  successful 
than  the  Irish  in  retaining  the  affections  of  the 
multitude  of  shooting  men.  The  reason  usually 
given  by  sportsmen  who  have  tried  and  discarded 
them  is  that  they  are  self-willed  and  hard  to 
handle  without  having  class  which  would  be  a 
compensation  for  extra  trouble  in  education.     No 


io6  The  Sporting  Dog 

Gordon  has  yet  had  the  rapidity  of  action  which 
the  prevailing  American  taste  demands,  and 
nearly  all  of  them  potter  a  great  deal  on  foot 
scent. 

In  color  the  Gordon  is  black-and-tan,  the  tan 
appearing  on  the  jaws,  breast,  and  the  inside  of 
the  legs.  The  tan  should  be  a  rich  red  and 
sharply  outlined  from  the  black.  Theoretically  a 
slight  dash  of  white  on  the  breast  is  permissible, 
but  judges  of  this  breed  are  so  exacting  as  to 
color  that  for  practical  show  purposes  a  white  spot 
is  a  disqualification  in  good  competition.  The 
usual  English  setter  description  of  shape  fits  the 
Gordon  except  that  the  latter  is  considerably 
heavier  in  general  make-up,  and  especially  in 
skull  and  muzzle.  This  natural  heaviness  is 
aggravated  by  a  tendency  to  take  on  flesh  which 
quickly  reduces  a  speed  not  first  rate  at  best.  In 
looks  this  breed  is  one  of  the  handsomest,  and 
some  fanciers  are  still  loyal  to  its  good  qualities. 

Though  the  breed  takes  its  name  from  the 
Duke  of  Gordon,  at  whose  kennel  the  strain  of 
black-and-tans  was  fixed  a  hundred  years  ago,  the 
modern  Gordon  is  really  a  specialized  and  devel- 
oped form  of  the  black-and-tan  color  in  the  Eng- 
lish setter.  Some  of  the  English  authorities 
believe  that  the  bloodhound  was  crossed  on  the 
setter  to  produce  what  is  known  as  the  Gordon. 
There  is  no  evidence  to  that  effect,  but  they  make 


Irish  and  Gordon  Setters  107 

the  inference  from  the  Gordons'  tendency  to 
dwell  on  foot  scent  and  from  the  frequent  appear- 
ance of  red  or  haw  in  the  corner  of  the  eye. 

Many  black-and-tan  setters  of  more  or  less 
straight  Gordon  blood  are  scattered  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  States,  but  the  breeders  who  have 
maintained  regular  kennels  of  the  breed  are  few. 
In  the  hands  of  men  who  understand  them  and 
are  good  shots  on  single  birds,  a  Gordon  is  often 
a  killing  dog.  Prior  to  the  introduction  of  the 
Llewellin  and  the  modern  pointer,  Gordons  were 
highly  prized  by  many  persons  who  shot  in  the 
thick  cover  of  the  East  and  North.  The  Llewel- 
lin and  pointer  have  now  apparently  taken  their 
places  even  in  this  kind  of  country.  On  the 
bench  Gordon  entries  are  always  a  small  class. 
It  was  for  some  time  claimed  by  many  breeders 
that  the  Duke  of  Gordon's  black-and-tans  were 
the  important  ingredient  in  the  Duke-Rhoebe 
element  of  the  Llewellin  setter,  but  historical 
investigation  pretty  well  disposed  of  this  claim, 
and  the  Gordons  must  stand  on  their  own  foun- 
dation of  merit. 

Mr.  Harry  Malcolm  of  Baltimore  a  dozen  years 
ago  undertook  to  establish  a  kennel  of  Gordons 
which  would  compete  with  other  breeds  in  fast 
and  snappy  field  quality.  Some  of  his  best  dogs 
became  quite  noted  —  among  them  Whip  and 
Stubble.     Stubble  was   taken  west  to  Iowa  and 


io8  The  Sporting  Dog 

competed  in  one  or  two  field  trials,  where  the 
judges  spoke  of  him  with  respect.  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  some  of  Mr.  Malcolm's  dogs  in 
Baltimore,  and  found  them  very  much  more  active 
and  alert  than  the  average  setter  of  the  breed. 
Later  Mr.  Malcolm  seemed  to  lose  interest  in  the 
experiment,  and  nothing  of  his  has  come  before 
the  public  for  some  years. 

When  the  sporting  classes  were  at  their  high- 
est popularity  in  bench  shows,  the  crack  Gordons 
were  Argus,  Belmont,  Beaumont,  Little  Boy,  and 
Royal  Duke.  These  were  all  champions  and 
handsome  specimens.  In  the  West  Dr.  Oughten 
of  Dwight,  Illinois,  took  up  the  Gordon  and  has 
been  liberal  in  his  importations.  One  of  his  high- 
class  imported  dogs  was  Heather  Lad.  In  1901 
he  brought  out  Heather  Donald,  the  most  richly 
colored  and  best-coated  dog  seen  for  years.  Don- 
ald was  also  more  vigorous  and  active  than  most 
of  the  Gordons,  though  his  skull  was  a  trifle 
lacking  in  type  and  his  stern  carried  as  high  and 
as  much  curled  as  the  worst  of  the  Llewellins. 
Dr.  Oughten  imported  nearly  all  of  his  dogs  from 
the  kennel  of  Mr.  Chapman  of  Scotland.  The 
same  year  Mr.  Vandergrift  showed  a  typical  and 
excellent  dog,  imported  Duke  of  Edgeworth, 
which  could  not  exhibit  his  best  form  as  he  was 
well  along  in  years  and  showing  his  age.  Later 
Mr.  Vandergrift  obtained  a  better  specimen  in 


Irish  and  Gordon  Setters  109 

champion  Downham  Victor,  brought  out  in  the 
New  York  show  of  1902. 

In  1890  the  Gordon  Setter  Club  ran  a  field 
trial  stake  in  connection  with  one  of  the  South- 
ern trials.  It  was  not  a  success  in  either  entries 
or  character  of  performance.  The  winner  of 
first  was  Bendigo,  Beaumont  second,  and  Belmont 
third.  In  1893  there  was  a  Gordon  setter  trial 
at  Freetown,  Massachusetts.  Again  the  starters 
were  few  and  the  performance  by  no  means  brill- 
iant. The  Derby  winner  was  Mr.  Arnold's  Don, 
Pearle's  Jolly  G.  winning  the  all-age  stake. 

There  have  always  been  enough  Gordons  to 
furnish  a  few  good  specimens  for  the  leading 
bench  shows,  but  as  a  general  fact  they  have 
become  in  number  of  comparatively  little  impor- 
tance. Their  fine  noses  and  accurate  work  on 
single  birds  have  retained  for  them  a  few  patrons, 
and  that  is  about  the  sum  of  what  can  be  said  of 
them  as  field  dogs  on  American  game. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

GREYHOUNDS 

Coursing,  in  its  ancient  and  honorable  char- 
acter and  its  association  with  the  early  aristocracy 
of  sport,  may  deserve  the  first  place  in  the  annals  of 
dogdom.  The  chief  English  classic,  the  Waterloo 
Cup  stake,  is  getting  along  toward  the  close  of 
its  century.  The  records  of  breeding  have  been 
kept  regularly  during  a  period  much  longer  than 
that  covered  by  any  other  breed  of  dogs. 

In  America,  however,  this  sport  is  of  limited 
extent  compared  with  shooting  or  fox-hunting. 
In  the  open  it  is  pursued  only  where  the  jack- 
rabbits  are  abundant  on  the  trans-Mississippi 
prairies.  Enclosed  or  park  coursing  has  flour- 
ished in  only  two  cities,  San  Francisco  and  St. 
Louis,  though  it  has  been  taken  up  spasmodically 
at  several  other  points.  To  tell  the  truth,  com- 
paratively few  Americans  have  seemed  to  be  in- 
oculated with  the  spirit.  Both  on  the  plains  and 
in  the  cities  the  typical  American  has  often  taken 
up  the  sport  for  a  few  years,  but  usually  to  dis- 
miss it  for  something  more  to  his  taste.     It  is  the 

no 


Grey  bounds  1 1 1 

first  generation  of  Irish,  Scotch,  and  English  who 
have  maintained  it  even  to  the  extent  of  its  Hm- 
ited  fashion.  They  have  old-country  memories. 
Their  sons  take  up  base-ball  or  horses  or  shoot- 
ing. The  hostility  of  the  anti-cruelty  societies 
has  had  something  to  do  with  the  reluctance  of 
the  average  United  States  citizen,  but  the  difficul- 
ties and  disappointments  of  maintaining  and 
training  a  kennel  of  greyhounds  have  been  more 
effectual  in  slackening  interest. 

Greyhounds  are  not  lacking  in  intelligence  of 
a  sort,  and  many  of  them  are  affectionate  and 
playful  companions.  They  have  one  fatal  weak- 
ness which  unfits  them  for  companionship.  A 
coursing-bred  greyhound  has  an  insatiable  desire 
to  pursue  any  small  animal  in  sight.  A  man  who 
goes  walking  or  driving  with  a  brace  of  these 
dogs  is  fortunate  if  he  does  not  find  himself  in- 
volved in  a  quarrel  with  the  owner  of  some  small 
dog,  cat,  or  chicken  which  has  excited  the  pur- 
suing instinct.  A  kennel  of  coursing  dogs  must 
be  kept  almost  like  a  stable  of  horses.  They 
need  a  great  deal  of  exercise  and  must  be  care- 
fully handled  —  both  to  avoid  the  danger  of  their 
chasing  and  destroying  pet  animals,  and  to  reduce 
the  risk  of  injuring  themselves  on  hard  roads, 
fences,  and  stones.  Another  trouble  which  has 
disgusted  many  an  owner  is  the  scarcity  of  good 
trainers  and  kennelmen.     I  have  known  perhaps 


112  The  Sporting  Dog 

twenty  Americans  to  go  into  coursing  with  some 
enthusiasm  and  find  themselves,  after  expending 
a  year  or  so  of  time  and  considerable  money, 
facing  an  important  stake  without  a  single  dog  in 
condition  to  compete.  Enthusiasm  does  not  last 
long  under  such  misfortunes. 

Coursing  has  its  infinite  variety  of  technical 
learning,  the  outgrowth  of  the  intense  British 
interest  and  many  years  of  experience,  but  its 
general  rules  are  simple.  Two  dogs  are  put  into 
slips,  and  as  soon  as  the  hare  is  sighted  are  allowed 
to  run,  tugging  in  the  slips  until  the  hare  has  had 
sufficient  "  law  "  and  the  slipper  is  certain  that  he 
can  throw  them  off  on  equal  terms.  Off  they 
dash.  The  dog  first  reaching  the  hare  gets  credit 
for  speed  according  to  the  distance  by  which  he 
beats  his  competitor  —  one,  two,  or  three  points. 
Then  the  scoring  begins  on  the  "  turns "  and 
"  wrenches "  and  the  "  kill."  The  turn  is  when 
the  hare  is  forced  around  at  more  than  a  right 
angle ;  the  wrench  is  where  it  swerves  at  a  less 
angle  from  its  course  on  account  of  being  pressed 
by  the  dog.  Ability  to  closely  work  the  hare  is, 
therefore,  as  important  as  speed.  A  dog  is  "  cun- 
ning "  or  "  wise  "  when  he  learns  to  cut  corners 
and  head  off  the  prey.  Any  considerable  amount 
of  this  over-education  disqualifies  the  dog.  An 
honest  dog  is  one  which  runs  true  to  the  hare. 
In  a  stake  the  dogs  which  win  in  the  first  series 


Greyhotmds  113 

are  run  in  braces  the  second  round,  and  so  on 
until  the  winner  comes  out  in  the  final. 

On  the  plains  most  of  the  private  coursing  is 
with  a  few  dogs,  and  the  rules  are  not  closely  ob- 
served. When  a  regular  public  event,  either  on 
the  plains  or  in  a  park,  the  affair  is  managed  with 
great  strictness.  The  judge  must  almost  neces- 
sarily be  mounted  in  order  to  follow  the  work 
with  accuracy.  The  slipper  must  understand  his 
business  and  have  his  slips  in  good  condition,  so 
that  when  he  pulls  the  cord  they  fly  off  evenly. 
He  is  also  expected  to  judge  carefully  when  it  is 
proper  to  deliver  his  dogs.  In  order  that  the 
dogs  may  be  readily  distinguished,  one  wears  a 
white  and  the  other  a  red  collar,  which  is  merely 
a  loose  piece  of  cloth. 

In  accordance  with  the  English  tradition,  cours- 
ing in  the  open  is  regarded  as  the  only  legitimate 
form  of  the  sport.  The  old  American  coursers 
who  had  a  pride  in  their  fancy  attempted  to  pre- 
serve the  tradition.  The  circumstances  were 
against  them.  All  the  important  events  for  years 
were  determined  on  the  plains,  but  it  was  found 
that  the  expense  of  going  from  place  to  place  and 
the  extreme  uncertainty  of  conditions  were  diffi- 
culties more  severe  than  most  men  cared  to  en- 
counter, after  they  had  tried  it  for  a  year  or  two. 
In  1897  t^^  American  Waterloo  Cup,  the  most 
important  event,  was  taken  to  an  enclosed  park  at 


114  The  Sporting  Dog 

Davenport,  Iowa.  Since  then  it  has  regularly 
been  held  in  enclosures,  the  best  and  most  suc- 
cessful one  having  been  at  Delmar  Park,  St. 
Louis,  in  the  fall  of  1902.  This  stake  brought 
picked  dogs  from  Texas,  California,  Montana, 
Iowa,  Colorado,  and  Kansas.  The  judge,  Mr.  John 
Grace,  and  the  slipper,  his  son,  Mr.  James  Grace, 
were  both  brought  from  San  Francisco  to  con- 
duct the  running.  The  winner  was  the  California 
dog,  Roman  Athlete;  the  runner-up,  Tiburon, 
was  owned  in  St.  Louis,  but  was  of  California 
birth  and  training.  This  stake  contained  the  full 
complement  of  sixty-four  dogs.  It  may  be  said 
to  have  brought  out  practically  all  of  the  best  in 
training  anywhere  in  the  country.  In  1903,  the 
American  Waterloo  was  taken  to  Oklahoma  City. 
The  winner  was  again  a  Californian,  nominated 
but  not  owned  by  Mr.  Rosseter,  named  Rubber 
Ankles.  Rubber  Ankles  is  by  imported  Fortuna 
Favente,  brother  to  Fabulous  Fortune  and  him- 
self runner-up  to  Thoughtless  Beauty,  the  English 
Waterloo  winner  of  1896.  Yours  Truly,  from 
Colorado,  was  the  runner-up.  The  American 
Derby,  at  the  same  meet,  was  won  by  Tatlah, 
owned  by  Mr.  McDougall  of  Butte,  Montana. 
Tatlah  is  by  Crawford  Lad,  and  from  a  dam  of 
American  stock.  The  Futurity  winner.  Path- 
finder, is  by  the  Lowe  dog,  St.  Clair.  So  breeding 
honors  are  still   rather  to  the  credit  of  the  old 


Greyhounds  1 1 5 

importations.  Butte  has  developed  in  the  past 
three  years  a  warm  interest  in  coursing. 

As  in  the  case  of  race-horses,  Americans  have 
drawn  their  greyhound  blood  from  the  most  ap- 
proved English  sources.  San  Francisco  imported 
quite  a  number  from^  Australia,  but  the  blood 
lines  were  the  same,  going  back  to  Contango, 
King  Death,  and  Scotland  Yet,  representing  from 
year  to  year  the  latest  successes  in  England,  as 
the  Greentick,  Ptarmigan,  or  Herschel  blood  came 
to  the  fore. 

History  will  never  tell  who  was  the  first  Amer- 
ican to  see  a  jack-rabbit.  Whoever  it  was,  he 
must  have  instantly  felt  the  need  of  a  greyhound. 
This  large  hare  of  the  Western  plains  has  a  dash 
of  speed  which  takes  him  quickly  out  of  the  range 
of  any  ordinary  dog,  and  an  endurance  which  pre- 
cludes the  idea  of  being  captured  by  any  plan 
which  involves  his  stopping  from  exhaustion 
ahead  of  a  slow  pursuer.  On  rising  ground  I 
have  seen  jack-rabbits  run  straight  away  from 
ordinary  greyhounds  of  native  or  cold  stock.  The 
greyhounds  were  soon  willing  to  quit  the  chase 
and  return  to  camp. 

Greyhounds  were  early  introduced  on  the  plains 
by  cattlemen  who  had  a  taste  for  sport.  Some 
army  officers  and  soldiers  on  the  frontier  made  a 
point  of  bringing  out  dogs  for  the  same  amuse- 
ment.    It  was  not,  however,  until  about  1885  that 


ii6  The  Sporting  Dog 

regular  coursing  began  to  be  known  in  the  United 
States.  Dr.  Q.  Van  Hummell  was  among  the 
pioneers  and  most  active  promoters  of  the  sport. 
He  imported  a  number  of  dogs  early  in  the  day 
and  took  some  interest  in  breeding.  Among  his 
first  breeding  was  to  Babazoun,  the  son  of  the 
English  dog,  Britain  Still.  He  owned  Verdure 
Clad,  a  daughter  of  Greentick.  Subsequently,  on 
a  visit  to  England  in  1895,  he  obtained  Astron- 
omy, a  fawn  son  of  Herschel,  and  Just  Eclipsed, 
a  daughter  of  that  great  English  sire.  Colonel 
Roger  D.  Williams  of  Kentucky  was  another 
pioneer  enthusiast. 

About  the  time  of  Dr.  Van  Hummell's  first 
activity  a  number  of  Kansas  gentlemen,  including 
Mr.  D.  C.  Luse  and  Dr.  G.  I.  Royce,  resolved  to 
get  some  greyhounds  with  which  they  could  estab- 
lish the  sport  of  coursing  under  a  regular  system. 
They  brought  over  the  brindle-and-white  Trales, 
and  two  half-sisters  of  the  Waterloo  winner.  Miss 
Glendyne.  Dogs  of  their  breeding  became  quite 
successful  and  the  blood  still  exists.  Most  of  the 
Trales  and  Glendyne  dogs  were  close  workers 
and  good  scorers,  but  were  short  of  first-class 
speed. 

By  far  the  most  important  event  in  the  history 
of  early  coursing  in  America  was  the  decision  of 
Mr.  H.  C.  Lowe,  a  brother  of  the  well-known 
English  breeder  of  field  dogs,  Mr.  F.  C.  Lowe,  to 


Greyhounds  117 

make  his  home  in  America.  Mr.  Lowe  located 
in  Lawrence,  Kansas,  where  he  still  lives.  He 
showed  remarkable  judgment  in  the  selection  of 
his  first  breeding  stock.  The  stud  dog  was  Lord 
Neversettle,  a  son  of  Jester.  Neversettle  was  a 
large  dog,  white  with  brindle  markings.  Of  the 
other  sex  Mr.  Lowe  chose  White  Lips,  black-and- 
white,  a  daughter  of  Hotspur,  and  Partera,  a 
brindle,  bred,  like  Lord  Neversettle,  from  the 
Ptarmigan-Gallant  Foe  blood.  White  Lips  be- 
came the  greatest  producer  that  ever  has  lived  or 
probably  ever  will  live  in  America.  Partera  was 
a  good  second.  Most  of  the  progeny  of  White 
Lips  were  either  solid  black  or  black-and-white; 
those  of  Partera  brindles  or  reds.  For  a  number 
of  years  the  Lowe  dogs  almost  made  up  the  his- 
tory of  coursing  as  far  as  stated  events  were  con- 
cerned. They  won  important  stakes  from  Texas 
to  Dakota  and  from  St.  Louis  to  San  Francisco. 
Perhaps  the  most  noted,  if  not  the  best,  was 
Prince  Charlie,  the  black-and-w^iite  winner  of  the 
International  stake  of  1893.  As  Mr.  Lowe  would 
phrase  it,  Charlie  was  "  extremely  fast  and  remark- 
ably clever."  Another  great  black-and-white  son 
of  White  Lips  was  Boomerang,  which  Mr.  Lowe 
sold  to  the  Bartelses,  a  family  which  took  the  lead 
in  coursing  matters  in  Colorado.  The  most  fa- 
mous daughter  of  White  Lips  was  Diana,  owned 
by  Mr.  Charles  A.  Robinson  of  St.  Louis  when 


1 1 8  The  Sporting  Dog 

that  gentleman  had  the  best  greyhound  kennel 
east  of  the  Missouri  River.  Diana  was  a  wonder- 
ful greyhound.  She  was  one  of  the  few  which 
seem  to  run  well  under  all  conditions  and  even 
when  not  in  good  training.  She  was  a  medium- 
sized  black  of  powerful  build  and  standing  on 
perfect  feet  and  legs.  She  was  a  great  deal  too 
wide  in  front  and  heavy  in  shoulder  for  a  bench 
winner,  but  proved  that  these  qualities  may  be 
entirely  consistent  with  great  speed  and  endur- 
ance when  not  existing  to  the  point  of  being  an 
actual  defect.  In  the  fall  of  1895  Diana  won  one 
and  divided  another  of  the  great  stakes  on  the 
plains,  and  in  February  of  the  next  winter  went  to 
California  and  beat  all  the  dogs  that  could  be 
gathered  in  the  central  event  offered  by  Pacific 
Coast  coursers  at  the  opening  of  Ingleside  Park. 
Among  other  dogs  bred  by  Mr.  Lowe  were 
Melita,  a  black,  very  nearly  or  quite  the  equal  of 
Diana,  though  she  did  not  achieve  the  latter's 
public  record  ;  St.  Clair,  almost  entirely  white,  the 
fastest  of  Mr.  Lowe's  breeding ;  St.  Lawrence, 
another  black-and-white ;  Sylvia,  a  black ;  and 
Quickstitch,  another  black.  These  were  all  from 
White  Lips.  Partera's  products  by  Lord  Never- 
settle  were  Master  Peter,  the  whirlwind  brindle 
Patria,  Lord  Clifton,  and  other  winners.  Another 
of  her  sons  was  Pretender,  a  w^hite  and  brindle 
dog  which  coursed  with    only  moderate  success 


Greyhounds  119 

but  became  the  sire  of  Tiburon,  a  noted  Cali- 
fornia winner  which  was  runner-up  for  the  Ameri- 
can Waterloo  Cup  of  1902  in  the  ownership  of 
Mr.  Ralph  Orthwein  of  St.  Louis. 

After  Lord  Neversettle's  usefulness  as  a  stud 
dog  ceased,  Mr.  Lowe  used  Prince  Charlie  for 
several  years.  He  made,  however,  what  most  of 
his  fellow-breeders  called  the  mistake  of  inbreed- 
ing, and  used  Lord  Neversettle's  daughters  from 
Partera  with  Prince  Charlie.  He  turned  out  a 
number  of  winning  dogs,  but  did  not  maintain 
with  that  breeding  the  prestige  established  by  his 
first  efforts.  Recently  he  imported  into  his  ken- 
nel Northern  Surprise.  The  best  Eastern  Derby 
dog  of  1902  was  by  Surprise. 

In  1894  Mr.  Edward  Mulcaster,  a  relative  of 
the  great  English  coursing  man,  Tom  Graham, 
came  to  America  with  some  dogs  selected  for 
him  by  Mr.  Graham.  Mulcaster  became  the  most 
successful  trainer  in  the  United  States  and  trained 
for  one  season  for  Mr.  Robinson.  Durinor  his 
career  of  a  few  years  as  a  breeder  he  imported 
Glenkirk  (full  brother  of  Gallant's  dam),  Gilda, 
Jim  o'  the  Hill,  Scandal,  and,  perhaps  most  im- 
portant of  all.  Miller's  Rab,  the  speedy  old  black. 
From  Glenkirk  and  Gilda  he  bred  the  winners, 
Dakota,  Fear  Not,  Gilkirk,  and  others.  From 
Miller's  Rab  came  Master  Dennis,  Magician,  and 
Mystic  Maid. 


I20  The  Sporting  Dog 

Miller's  Rab  introduced  more  fire  and  quick- 
ness into  American  greyhounds  than  had  been 
before  seen,  but  most  of  his  descendants  were 
troubled  with  small  feet  and  fine  bone.  Mul- 
caster  sold  him  to  Mr.  Robinson  in  St.  Louis,  and 
the  old  fellow  died  in  Robinson's  possession. 
Miller's  Rab  dogs  were  easily  trained  and  were 
always  ready  to  do  their  best.  In  this  they  dif- 
fered markedly  from  Mr.  Lowe's  dogs.  It  was  a 
peculiarity  of  the  latter  that  they  seldom  came 
up  to  their  best  form  except  after  thorough  train- 
ing, and  were  frequently  disappointing  in  the 
hands  of  inexperienced  coursers. 

In  the  East  Mr.  Herbert  Watson  was  for  a 
long  time  the  most  active  spirit.  That  he  re- 
mained active  was  an  evidence  of  keen  sports- 
manship, since  he  was  compelled  to  travel  to  the 
West  to  see  his  own  dogs  run.  Among  other 
dogs  Mr.  Watson  owned  imported  Royal  Crest, 
a  black  son  of  Greentick.  This  dog  of  Mr. 
Watson's  has  been  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
public  again  lately  by  the  performances  of  his 
descendants. 

About  the  year  1898  the  centre  of  interest  in 
coursing  moved  bodily  to  California,  where  en- 
closed park  running  became  the  fashionable 
Sunday  sport.  The  whole  population  began  to 
be  interested,  and  large  sums  of  money  were  in- 
vested in  the  park.     For  some  years  before  that 


Grey  bounds  121 

time  Messrs.  J.  H.  Rosseter,  John  Grace,  and  a 
few  enterprising  Californians,  who  had  been  de- 
voted to  the  sport,  often  journeyed  to  Kansas  or 
Dakota  to  see  the  chief  events.  Coursing  became 
popular  in  California.  Mr.  Rosseter  and  other 
gentlemen  interested  spared  no  expense  or  trouble 
in  bringing  over  dogs  from  England.  The  great- 
est of  these  and  unquestionably  the  greatest 
coursing  dog  America  ever  saw  was  For  Free- 
dom, obtained,  as  his  name  suggests,  from  the 
English  kennel  of  Messrs.  Fawcett.  This  dog 
was  a  phenomenon.  He  had  none  of  the  appear- 
ance of  the  classic  English  winner.  He  was 
light  and  waspy  in  shape,  with  a  rough  coat  and 
coarse  tail.  In  actual  performance,  however,  he 
had  no  rival.  It  was  said  that  his  coursing  would 
nearly  always  consist  of  a  flying  dash  up  to  the  hare, 
three  or  four  quick  points  of  scoring  and  a  kill ; 
short  courses,  leaving  him  fresh.  He  was  equally 
good  at  all  points  of  the  game.  After  his  retire- 
ment he  was  bred  to  extensively,  but  his  early 
descendants  were  by  no  means  able  to  carry  out 
the  expectations  of  their  breeders.  Later  prog- 
eny may  do  better,  though  he  died  young  and 
may  never  have  struck  the  right  nick. 

In  California,  notwithstanding  the  importation 
of  For  Freedom  and  dogs  like  Fortuna  Favente, 
the  famous  Waterloo  Cup  contender,  the  blood  of 
Emin  Pasha  has  been  more  successful,  while  that 


122  The  Sporting  Dog 

of  the  Lowe  dogs  sent  to  California  has  also  over- 
topped in  breeding  quality  the  Herschel  and  other 
later  fashions.  In  fact,  it  is  high  praise  for  the 
early  importations  in  various  parts  of  the  country 
that  they  have  held  their  own  in  competition  with 
the  latest.  For  example,  the  winner  of  the  Amer- 
ican Waterloo  Cup  in  1901,  Monsoon,  had  for  a 
sire  Caliph,  a  dog  descended  from  Mr.  Lowe's 
Lord  Neversettle-White  Lips  cross,  and  his  dam 
was  by  Mulcaster's  Jim  o'  the  Hill  out  of  the 
same  breeder's  Scandal.  The  winner  of  the  cup 
in  1902  was  by  Emin  Pasha,  and  his  dam  was 
Fair  Helen  by  Mulcaster's  Dover  out  of  his 
Gilda.  The  runner-up,  Tiburon,  was  by  the 
Lowe  dog.  Pretender,  and  his  dam  by  Mr.  Wat- 
son's old  black.  Royal  Crest,  by  Greentick.  The 
best  dog  in  the  stake  was  Sacramento  Boy,  a  win- 
ner of  nineteen  stakes  in  California  and  of  over 
four  thousand  dollars  in  money.  This  dog  was  by 
Winged  Foot,  he  by  Mulcaster's  Jim  o'  the  Hill 
out  of  Carmen,  also  bred  by  Mulcaster.  Since 
these  dogs  won  against  products  of  the  choicest 
and  latest  breeding,  the  only  inference  is  that  the 
dogs  brought  over  by  Lowe,  Watson,  and  others 
fifteen  years  ago  were  as  well  bred  and  as  good 
as  those  now  existing  in  the  best  English  ken- 
nels. 

Coursing  lends  itself   particularly  well  to  bet- 
ting,   but  outside  of    San    Francisco  the  betting 


COURSING    GREYHOUND 

Sacramento  Boy.  By  Winged  Foot-Tipperary  Lass.  American  bred.  Sire's 
blood  from  Tom  Graham's  kennel,  England.  Fawn-and-white ;  medium  weight. 
Winner  of  nineteen  stakes  and  over  $4000.  Owner,  Mr.  D.  Walsh,  Sacramento, 
California.  A  fairly  fast  greyhound,  but  his  special  excellence  has  consisted  of  quick 
and  sure  scoring  on  turns  and  wrenches  after  reaching  the  hare. 


Greyhounds  1 23 

adjunct  has  been  of  little  consequence.  In  St. 
Louis  the  slackness  of  betting  has  been  due  to 
the  strict  anti-gambling  laws.  On  the  plains 
the  attendance  has  been  oversmall  for  wagers 
of  noticeable  amount.  Without  these  obstacles 
coursing  might  have  degenerated  altogether  into 
a  gambling  affair.  It  is  exciting  ;  perhaps  more 
so  than  any  other  sport  with  animals.  The  races 
come  fast,  one  after  the  other.  It  is  very  easy  to 
bring  off  between  twenty  and  thirty  courses  in 
an  afternoon.  Small  betting  is  quickly  tempted 
by  these  rapidly  succeeding  and  blood-stirring 
contests. 

Little  attention  has  been  paid  in  America  to 
showing  greyhounds  on  the  bench.  Usually 
some  professional  handler  has  one  or  two  good 
bench  specimens,  which  he  carries  around 
because  he  is  practically  certain  of  winning  prizes 
with  them  on  account  of  the  small  competition. 
These  bench  winners  nearly  always  disappear 
from  view  after  their  usefulness  in  this  respect 
has  passed.  Few  devoted  coursers  care  to  put 
their  dogs  on  the  bench.  Exhibitions  are  a  pro- 
lific source  of  disease  among  dogs  of  any  kind, 
and  especially  among  greyhounds.  Then,  too, 
coursers  have  a  prejudice  against  showing.  A 
prominent  English  expert  told  me  that  the 
courser  who  patronizes  bench  shows  in  his  coun- 
try is  likely  to  create  an  impression  that  his  dogs 


124  The  Sporting  Dog 

are  degenerating.  In  San  Francisco,  however, 
and  St.  Louis  coursing  dogs  have  frequently 
been  freely  exhibited.  The  best  display  ever  seen 
east  of  the  Rockies  was  in  the  St.  Louis  show  of 
1897.  Mr.  Robinson  carried  off  nearly  all  the 
honors  with  a  particularly  fine  string,  the  cracks 
of  which  were  Magician,  Sylvia,  and  Dakota.  I 
had  the  curious  experience  of  seeing  my  dog, 
Dakota,  the  public  qualities  of  which  Mr.  Robin- 
son controlled,  beat  some  dogs  which  I  exhibited 
for  Mr.  Lowe,  wdth  whom  I  had  an  arrangement 
for  controlling  his  St.  Louis  string.  Mr.  Lowe 
had  the  luck  the  next  month  to  beat  all  of  Mr. 
Robinson's  crack  dogs  in  a  coursing  stake  at 
Davenport  with  Melita  and  Quickstitch,  which 
were  then  at  their  best,  and  gave  a  magnificent 
exhibition  of  speed  and  working  powers,  in  the 
hands  of  Mr.  E.  J.  Brown,  the  St.  Louis  coursing 
enthusiast. 

Just  what  the  future  of  greyhounds  in  America 
will  be  is  hard  to  predict.  It  is  said  that  the  popu- 
larity of  the  sport  in  California  has  considerably 
fallen  off,  and  at  this  moment  there  is  a  notice- 
able decline  in  St.  Louis.  Six  or  eight  years  ago 
there  were  more  than  twenty  regular  clubs  in  the 
states  of  the  plains.  Now  there  are  very  few. 
The  multiplication  of  wire  fences  which  are  a 
menace  to  dogs,  with  other  discouragements,  has 
checked  the  open  plains  events.     The  American 


Greyhounds  125 

Coursing  Board  maintains  its  authority  and  keeps 
up  an  elaborate  studbook  for  registration,  but 
there  seems  to  be  a  slender  prospect  for  coursing 
to  attain  among  us  anything  like  the  importance 
it  possesses  in  Great  Britain,  or  even  to  maintain 
the  prestige  it  has  won  at  times  in  the  past. 

Whippet  racing  is  not  much  known  in  America, 
though  it  has  a  few  votaries  and  has  been  occa- 
sionally introduced  as  a  novelty.  Even  in  Eng- 
land this  sport  is  not  held  in  esteem.  It  is 
followed  chiefly  among  the  miners  and  colliers 
of  certain  English  districts.  The  whippet  is  a 
small  greyhound,  with  a  terrier  cross  to  give 
quickness  in  the  getaway.  The  racing  is  in  en- 
closures and  for  short  distances,  the  whippets 
being  trained  to  race  at  a  red  cloth  or  other 
object.  English  sportsmen  tell  me  that  it  has 
more  crookedness  and  trickery  than  any  other 
amusement  with  dogs. 


CHAPTER   IX 

FOXHOUNDS 

America  has  much  more  of  fox-hunting  than 
the  average  citizen  might  suppose.  In  England 
hunting  is  a  sport  of  such  eminent  prestige  that 
society  news,  fiction,  and  even  poHtical  reports 
are  continually  keeping  it  before  the  public.  In 
America  nobody  hears  of  fox-hunting  except  its 
votaries.  In  fact,  they  are  rather  a  secretive  lot, 
generally  living  at  a  distance  from  the  cities  and 
rather  priding  themselves  on  a  contempt  for  the 
public  prints.  The  sporting  papers  rarely  have 
anything  of  hunting  information  which  comes 
directly  from  authentic  sources. 

Yet  there  are  few  counties  in  the  South  or 
Southwest  which  have  not  their  quota  of  fox-hunt- 
ing enthusiasts.  While  not  exactly  one  of  the 
devotees,  I  can  vouch  from  personal  observation 
for  the  statement  that  between  the  Delaware  Bay 
and  the  Texas  Panhandle  nearly  every  neighbor- 
hood has  its  esteemed  foxhounds  —  toward  the 
Panhandle  using  them  for  wolves  as  much  as  for 
the  "  beast  of  stinking  flight." 

Nor  is  the  wolf  the  only  game  to  share  the 
126 


Foxhounds  127 

attentions  of  the  American  hound.  Some  care- 
fully selected  and  costly  packs  are  used  chiefly 
for  deer ;  while  the  wildcat,  being  at  once  worthy 
game  and  a  hated  depredator,  becomes  in  other 
localities  the  main  object  of  sport.  In  Taney 
County,  Missouri,  there  is  a  magnificent  preserve 
on  the  White  River  where  nearly  a  hundred  wild- 
cats were  killed  last  season  with  the  hounds ;  not 
all  by  the  hounds,  perhaps  the  majority  being  shot 
after  taking  to  the  trees. 

Indeed,  if  I  were  writing  a  volume  on  Ameri- 
can hounds,  the  most  exciting  chapters  would  be 
descriptions  of  wolf  hunts  and  the  battles  with 
which  they  conclude.  Hounds  have  to  be  hounds 
in  this  sport ;  for  the  hunts  are  hunts  and  the 
battles  are  battles. 

Between  Boston  and  Richmond  there  are  many 
hunt  clubs  —  the  Philadelphia  neighborhood  alone 
having  two  score  —  which  conduct  the  sport  after 
the  English  style.  Some  of  these  follow  the 
drag  for  the  most  part.  The  packs  are  often  of 
American  breed ;  as  often  English.  The  mem- 
bers would  not,  I  think,  take  issue  at  all  with  the 
differentiation  that  they  are  riding  clubs  rather 
than  fox-hunting  associations  in  the  American 
sense. 

Major  Wadsworth,  of  the  Genesee  Valley 
Hunt,  has  made  a  point  of  developing  a  high- 
class  pack  of  English  blood,  but  during  the  past 


128  The  Sporting  Dog 

year  has  lost  a  number  of  his  best  hounds  from 
an  epidemic ;  so  that  at  the  moment  Mr.  Charles 
E.  Mather,  near  his  Avonwood  seat  in  the  Phila- 
delphia country,  is  the  unchallenged  owner  of  the 
best  pack  of  the  English  type.  Major  Wadsworth 
has  also  been  using  a  dash  of  American  blood  in 
the  two  years  just  passed.  He  has  brought  over 
English  blood  at  various  times  since  1876,  first 
from  the  Fitzhardinge,  and  at  intervals  from  the 
Sir  Baltic  Cunard,  Badminton,  d'Tredegar,  and 
other  packs.  Mr.  Mather's  original  draft  from 
the  Belvoir  (Duke  of  Rutland's)  hounds  in  Eng- 
land has  been  vastly  improved  by  careful  breed- 
ing, retaining  its  English  "  sortiness  "  and  adding 
something  of  American  speed  and  nose.  Mr. 
Redmond  Stewart  of  the  Green  Spring  Valley 
Hunt,  Baltimore,  through  Mr.  Mather's  courtesy, 
has  been  enabled  to  experiment  with  a  cross 
of  these  improved  English  hounds  on  American 
stock.  Mr.  Stewart  reports  that  two  of  his 
best  hounds  are  of  this  cross,  but  that  he  has  not 
obtained  the  "  clarion  tone  "  in  tongue,  which  old 
American  fox-hunters  regard  as  an  essential  qual- 
ification. Our  Canadian  friends  hunt,  of  course, 
and  have  in  the  Montreal  Hunt  pack  the  only 
hounds  of  late  English  blood  regarded  as  rivalling 
those  of  Major  Wadsworth  and  Mr.  Mather.  Dr. 
Mac  Each  ran  is  the  ruling  authority  on  hounds  in 
the  Montreal  Hunt  and  has  kept  up  a  high  stand- 


FOX    HUNTING    IN    THE    SOUTHWEST  AND    THE    TYPE   OF 
HOUND    IN    GENERAL   USE 
The  dark-colored  hounds  are  black-and-tans,  of  the  character  so  often  niet  among 
favorite  Southwestern  strains. 


Foxhotmds  119 

ard.  When  Mr.  Foxhall  Keene  went  abroad  last 
spring,  he  expressed  an  intention  of  bringing 
back  a  complete  pack.  It  is  reported  that  he  sent 
over  40^  couples,  bred  and  hunted  as  a  pack. 
The  Meadowbrook  Hunt  will  have  the  advantage 
of  these  hounds.  It  may  be  that  Mr.  Keene's  pack 
will  equal  Mr.  Mather's. 

A  volume  designed  to  show  American  varia- 
tions from  English  traditions  cannot,  however, 
dwell  long  on  the  hunt  clubs  which  uphold  those 
traditions. 

Radically,  the  difference  between  American  and 
British  hunting  is  that  the  first  is  a  matter  of 
hounds  and  the  other  a  question  of  horses  and 
horsemanship.  Glorious  sport  as  a  riding  party 
across  country  furnishes,  the  American  style  is 
more  to  the  purpose  when  we  are  on  the  subject 
of  hounds. 

Not  long  ago,  Mr.  Hudspeth,  the  owner  of  a 
pack  in  Jackson  County,  Missouri,  which  has 
been  bred  consecutively  for  over  fifty  years  by 
his  uncle  and  himself,  said  to  me :  "  You  see 
that  big  hound  ?  On  looks  he  is  the  best  hound 
in  the  pack,  but  it  will  take  another  cross  to 
bring  his  blood  up  to  the  standard.  I  like  this 
English  blood  to  give  color  and  style,  but  the 
original  importation  and  the  first  cross  are  not 
tough  enough  for  our  work.  The  sire  of  this 
dog    is   an    English    stud    dog  which    a    friend 


ijo  The  Sporting  Dog 

broueht  over  for  me  to  use  as  a  cross.  His 
feet  are  what  we  call  soft.  They  may  have  been 
good  enough  for  the  well-kept  country  on  the 
other  side,  but,  especially  with  the  unnecessary 
weight  and  bone  he  carries,  a  run  of  half  an 
hour  with  my  pack  makes  his  feet  so  sore  that 
he  cannot  be  taken  out  for  a  week  after." 

When  descanting  on  hounds,  an  American 
nearly  always  talks  this  way :  "  No  hound  ever 
made  that  red-and-white  quit.  She  may  look 
a  little  lathy,  but  when  they  start  she's  around, 
and  when  they  finish  she's  in  front." 

The  hound  which  strikes,  holds,  and  stays  in 
front  is  always  the  American  foxhound  man's 
admiration.  The  bone,  the  color,  the  symmetry, 
—  these  are  all  incidents.  It  does  not  disturb 
him  to  have  what  a  Pharisee  would  call  a 
scratch  pack. 

As  for  the  horse,  that  is  the  least  of  the  South- 
ern hunter's  troubles.  Sometimes  the  fox-hun- 
ter has  a  steady  old  jumper  which  he  finds  more 
useful  than  the  ordinary;  but  more  often  he 
will  tell  you  that  he  can  get  along  well  enough 
in  a  buggy  if  he  can  be  sure  that  he  has  the 
hounds  to  meet  his  notions. 

"  God  bless  the  ladies,"  of  course.  A  South- 
ern gentleman  would  challenge  Achilles  on  a 
contradiction.  Just  the  same,  the  sentiment  is 
likely  to  be  a  sotto  voce  objurgation  of  the  same 


Foxhounds  131 

words  but  one,  when  American  fox-hunters  start 
out  for  a  night  with  the  hounds  and  the  ladies 
express  an  intention  of  joining.  "  He  goes  fast- 
est who  goeth  alone "  is  not  a  principle  in  an 
English  country  house  party,  but  it  is  in  Ameri- 
can fox-hunting.  The  ladies  of  the  South  and 
Southwest  do  ride  to  hounds  sometimes,  but  when 
it  comes  to  a  real  run,  I  have  heard  their  pull-back 
influences  condemned  too  often  for  me  to  assign 
any  poetry  of  chivalry  to  the  fox-hunter's  gospel. 

An  Eastern  M.  F.  H.  who  has  hunted  in 
England,  in  our  Atlantic  States,  and  in  the 
South,  lets  me  quote  to  this  effect :  — 

"  The  English  hound  is  taught  to  run  as  a 
pack,  not  to  do  individual  work.  The  pack  is 
taken  to  a  cover  in  which  a  fox  is  marked,  so 
to  speak,  where  the  earth  has  been  stopped  up 
the  night  before  so  that  he  lies  above  ground. 
There  is  generally  no  fox-trail  scent  left,  and 
the  hound  only  gets  the  scent  when  the  fox  is 
started  from  his  resting-place.  This  scent  is, 
of  course,  the  hot  scent  of  the  started  fox.  He 
then  breaks  cover,  and  they  pursue  him  with 
that  best  scent  of  all  in  their  noses. 

"  The  Englishman  seems  to  work  on  the  idea 
that  a  hound  has  to  be  up  to  carrying  so  much 
weight  across  country;  but  the  American  hound 
is  only  required  to  have  so  much  speed,  endur- 
ance, nose,  ears,  eyes,  and  voice. 


132  The  Sporting  Dog 

"  In  America  there  are  no  covers  kept  as  there 
are  in  England.  There  is  no  earth  stopper  ex- 
cept at  Montreal.  Consequently  the  American 
hound  has  got  to  work  as  an  individual.  Our 
woodlands  are  larger  and  rougher  than  in  Eng- 
land. It  is  almost  impossible  to  be  always  with 
the  hounds  in  their  work,  on  account  of  the 
swamps,  cliffs,  and  other  natural  obstacles. 

"  One  method  of  hunting  in  America  is  to  go 
out  at  early  dawn,  having  a  pack  of  hounds  that 
work  as  individuals ;  scatter  them  here  and  there 
for  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  and  let  them  finally  strike 
the  trail  of  a  fox  that  has  passed  the  night  before. 
This  may  be  simply  a  feed  trail ;  sometimes  the 
trail  where  the  fox  has  gone  off  to  rest  for  the 
day.  If  a  feed  trail,  it  is  likely  to  be  in  a  swamp 
where  they  go  after  frogs,  or  in  a  field  where  they 
go  after  mice  and  other  small  animals. 

"  The  American  hound's  nose  is  keener,  and 
you  can  easily  see  that  it  has  got  to  be,  as  he  is 
obliged  to  follow  a  trail  which  is  several  hours 
old.  When  he  finally  gives  tongue  on  his  trail, 
the  other  hounds  honor  his  voice  and  gradually 
the  whole  pack  gets  on  the  trail  and  works  it  up. 
This  by  many  is  considered  the  best  sort  of  hound 
work,  as  it  not  only  instructs  one  as  to  what  the 
hound  may  do,  but  also  as  to  the  habits  and  man- 
ners of  the  fox." 

If  I  have  made  plain  the  American  variation 


AMERICAN    FOXHOUND.    TRIGG   STRAIN 
<^HJt°JH  k"  ^^'?;f«-bl3ck-tan.      Owned    by   Mr.   W.   I.   Varner.   Varner,    Arkansas, 
^tl     ,  o/-,      ■rr^^'ri''  ^?  °"''  °^  ^^^  P^^^  ^°'  the  test  on  New  England  foxes  at  Barre 
Tnn         !  i"    o''^"^  '^^^'^'■^'^  °^^'  ^"^  ^'-  Varner-s  select  Southern  pack  did    not 
appear  at  the  Barre  trials.    This  hound  is  a  flyer  and  reliable  on  trail 


Foxhounds  133 

in  foxhounds,  the  reader  is  ready  to  learn  what 
experts  think  of  the  separate  strains  known  as 
distinctively  American.  In  order  to  make  this 
study  convincing,  I  have  asked  my  friend,  Mr. 
William  I.  Varner  of  Varner,  Arkansas,  one  of 
the  most  careful  students  of  the  subject  and  a 
hound  breeder  of  long  experience  with  both  foxes 
and  deer,  to  write  the  chapter  on  American  hound 
families.  Fox-hunters  will  decree  that  Mr.  Var- 
ner's  word  has  weight.  More's  the  pity  that  the 
great  test  of  Southern  hounds  on  New  England 
foxes,  proposed  by  Mr.  Smith  of  the  Grafton 
Hunt,  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  for  the  meet 
at  Barre  this  fall  (1903)  fell  through  because  of 
unexpected  burdens  thrown  upon  Mr.  Smith's 
time.  Mr.  Varner  had  undertaken  the  commis- 
sion of  gathering  a  pack  of  eight  July  Walker 
and  Trigg  hounds  for  the  test.  Better  luck  for 
the  sport  next  year ! 

Mr.  Mather  has  kindly  consented  to  give  the 
reasons  for  his  choice  of  direct  English  blood. 

These  two  studies,  by  Mr.  Varner  and  Mr. 
Mather,  are  in  their  respective  cults  authoritative. 
I  am  gratified  to  believe  that  they  throw  more 
light  on  the  subject  of  foxhounds  in  America  than 
has  ever  before  come  from  the  press.  If  they  dis- 
agree, that  is  all  the  better  for  the  stimulation  of 
the  truth-seeker.  After  all,  there  is  substantial 
agreement.     Both  argue  that  the  English  hound 


134  Tbe  Sporting  Dog 

must  be  bred  to  a  more  alert  and  active  type  for 
our  foxes  and  country.  The  only  issue  is  whether 
the  breeder  shall  take  the  American  hound  as  it 
stands  or  start  with  a  fresh  importation. 

AMERICAN  HOUND    STRAINS 

By  William  I.  Varner 

Three  families  of  foxhounds  are  most  promi- 
nent in  the  South  at  the  present  time,  while  there 
are  several  packs  of  local  fame,  the  result  of  indi- 
vidual fancy  in  breeding  and  crossing;  not  dis- 
tinct enough,  however,  to  be  considered  a  type. 
Then  there  have  been  many  English  importations, 
used  mainly  for  outcrossing,  and  hardly  ever  kept 
pure.  At  least  I  am  sure  that  this  is  true  of  our 
Southern  country.  These  three  strains  are  the 
Walkers,  the  Triggs,  and  the  Julys,  or  July-Bird- 
songs. 

The  Walkers  are  chiefly  bred  by  men  in  Ken- 
tucky of  that  name,  and  have  been  shipped  to 
nearly  every  part  of  America  where  foxes  are 
found  and  where  there  are  devotees  of  the  chase. 
They  have  been  very  carefully  bred  from  the  best 
of  Virginia  stock,  crossed  with  carefully  selected 
English  dogs.  Wash  Maupin  of  Kentucky  was 
the  founder  of  this  strain,  and  was  himself  a  man 
of  glorious  memory,  to  whom  the  brotherhood  in 
the    United  States  are  greatly  indebted   for  his 


Foxhounds  135 

judgment  and  care,  and  for  the  purity  and  point 
of  perfection  to  which  the  strain  has  been  brought. 
The  model  the  old  gentleman  evidently  had  be- 
fore him  was  based  upon  endurance  and  game- 
ness,  with  as  much  speed,  nose,  and  mouth  as  were 
compatible  with  these  qualities.  And  he  suc- 
ceeded marvellously.  The  Walker  hounds  are 
fast;  yet  have  fine  powers  of  scent  and  are 
musical  of  tongue.  For  grit  and  bottom  they 
are  without  superiors.  From  experience  I  can 
speak  of  them  as  good  and  indefatigable  hunters. 
As  trailers  they  take  quite  a  cold  track,  but  are 
rather  too  careful  in  working,  since  it  causes  them 
oftentimes  to  be  lingerers-on-track  and  hesitating- 
on-dodges.  As  a  general  thing  they  hew  close  to 
the  line  and  are  said  to  be  track-straddlers.  Many 
prefer  a  hound  should  straddle,  but  with  me  it  is 
a  fault.  In  trailing  a  fox  up  it  enables  the  fox 
to  get  too  long  a  lead ;  while  in  running  with 
other  dogs  which  have  the  forward  manner  of 
catching  up  track,  a  straddler  is  frequently  thrown 
out  or  left  far  in  the  rear.  For  catching  foxes 
many  prefer  the  Triggs  and  Julys,  but  for  a  rous- 
ing fine  chase,  with  plenty  of  mouth  and  a  run  to 
a  finish,  the  Walkers  are  excellent.  In  size  and 
build  they  are  rather  larger  than  the  Julys  and 
the  Triggs,  showing  more  bone  and  substance; 
nor  are  they  quite  so  trim.  They  have  strong 
loins,  stout  muscular  legs,  yet  something  lighter 


136  The  Sporting  Dog 

than  the  English  pattern.  Many  very  beautiful 
dogs  come  of  this  breed.  Their  ears  are  short, 
yet  soft  and  thin,  while  their  coats  are  coarse  and 
their  tails  strong  and  bushy.  In  color  they  are 
usually  black-white-tan;  though  quite  a  lot  of 
them  are  white  and  spotted,  sometimes  with  black, 
sometimes  with  lemon. 

The  Triggs  are  a  combination  of  Maupins  and 
Birdsongs.  Some  forty  years  ago,  about  the 
close  of  Birdsong's  life,  Hayden  C.  Trigg  of  Ken- 
tucky paid  him  a  visit  at  his  old  home,  Thomas- 
ton,  Georgia,  and  bought  seven  or  eight  of  the 
best  foxhounds  he  had.  He  did  likewise  with  ref- 
erence to  the  Maupins,  and  then  united  the  two 
strains,  producing,  after  many  years  of  judicious 
breeding  and  great  discrimination  in  mating,  a 
foxhound  combining  the  toughness  of  the  Mau- 
pins together  with  the  speed  and  energy  of  the 
Birdsongs.  Many  declare  them  to  be  without  a 
peer  in  America,  nor  have  I,  in  my  experience, 
found  anything  better. 

Birdsong,  an  exquisite  in  point  of  training, 
breeding,  and  selecting  of  foxhounds,  developed 
the  Irish  family  almost  to  a  point  of  perfection. 
These  dogs  he  got  from  the  grandson  of  Patrick 
Henry  of  Revolutionary  fame.  Two,  Mountain 
and  Muse,  had  been  imported  from  Ireland  dur- 
ing the  time  of  the  Taylors  and  Governor  Ogle 
of  Maryland.    They  were  crossed  on  the  Virginia 


Foxbotmds  -  137 

Redbone  stock,  and  the  outcome  was  a  foxhound 
par  excellence.  They  were  our  first  fox-killers. 
Falling  into  Birdsong's  hands,  they  were  bred  to 
a  point  of  nicety  perhaps  never  before  equalled. 
One  mistake,  however,  he  seems  to  have  made ; 
in  trying  for  extreme  speed,  beauty,  and  quality, 
he  rendered  them  somewhat  tender  and  delicate. 
Still,  his  chief  aim  was  to  breed  fox-catchers,  and 
this  they  were  beyond  peradventure.  Trigg,  in 
uniting  these  with  the  Maupins,  has  succeeded, 
by  long  and  persistent  endeavor,  in  fusing  the 
fleetness  of  one  and  the  stamina  of  the  other  to  a 
high  degree. 

July  blood  represents  the  influences  of  one 
hound,  chiefly  as  bred  on  the  Birdsong  strain.  A 
short  time  before  Trigg's  visit  to  Birdsong,  Miles 
Harris  of  Georgia  had  purchased  from  the  Gos- 
nell  pack  of  Maryland  the  ever  memorable  July. 
This  hound  was  very  strongly  bred  in  the  Irish 
blood,  and  was  also  obtained  for  a  fancy  price. 
As  an  individual  he  was  wonderful  for  speed,  en- 
ergy, and  endurance ;  about  the  medium  in  size, 
and  in  color  a  "  dingy  black,"  with  long  brush  on 
his  tail,  and  feathered  both  on  his  fore  and  hind 
legs.  Some  of  the  Birdsongs  procured  by  Trigg 
were  immediately  descended  from  him,  and  were 
had  at  a  larger  figure  than  any  of  the  others, 
showing  the  estimation  in  which  Birdsong  held 
his  get.     Such  was  the  fancy  of  the   Georgians 


138  The  Sporting  Dog 

themselves  for  him  that  nearly  every  fine  bitch  in 
the  state  was  bred  to  him.  Afterwards  his  de- 
scendants were  bred  in-and-in,  sometimes  ruin- 
ously close.  Yet  since  inbreeding  stamps  the 
characteristics  of  a  family  strongly,  they  make 
fox-killers  of  the  highest  order.  The  Julys  have 
caught  out  most  of  the  foxes  in  Georgia.  They 
hunt  rapidly,  trail  rapidly,  and  run  rapidly.  They 
do  not  take  scent  quite  so  readily  as  some  others, 
but  make  it  up  in  fast  hunting;  and  when  they 
strike,  they  move  hurriedly  on,  catching  in  "  here, 
there,  —  and  gone."  They  get  close  to  a  fox  on 
the  jump,  and  press  him  in  an  amazing  pace. 

This  close  inbreeding,  I  fear,  especially  in  the 
hands  of  the  injudicious,  has  injured  the  stamina 
and  gameness  of  the  strain  a  bit.  But  where  they 
have  been  in  the  hands  of  owners  who  displayed 
judgment  and  discernment,  they  have  been  found 
to  be  fox-catchers  without  peers.  To  those  who 
lay  main  stress  upon  such  a  termination  in  run- 
ning foxes,  these  and  the  Triggs  are  preferred 
above  all  others. 

The  prevalent  colors  in  this  July-Birdsong  fam- 
ily are  black  and  tan,  with  or  without  white  points, 
and  reds,  with  or  without  white.  This  latter 
marking  is  especially  frequent  among  the  direct 
Julys,  and  the  shades  vary  from  deep  red  to  pale 
fawn.  They  are,  also,  more  than  often  marked 
with  gray,  —  gray  spots,  gray  borders,  or  sprinkled 


Foxhounds  139 

with  gray.  In  build  they  are  upon  very  racy 
Hnes,  Hght  of  bone  and  wiry.  Their  coats  are 
coarse  and  long,  their  tails  strong,  straight,  and 
usually  heavy  in  brush;  while  their  ears  are  short, 
soft,  and  thin.  Their  tongue  or  cry  in  running  is 
short  and  given  in  rapid  succession.  They  are 
disposed  to  squeal  at  intervals.  The  energetic 
fire,  peculiar  to  most  American  fox-breeds  in 
tonguing,  is  pronounced,  and  no  one  needs  to  tell 
you  that  whatever  is  in  front  is  moving.  While 
you  cannot  but  wish  that  the  note  were  fuller,  you 
find  yourself  wondering  whether  any  living  ani- 
mal could  sound  a  stronger  cry  when  going  at  the 
clip  they  travel.  It  is  hard  for  a  deer  or  a  red  fox 
to  stay  ahead  of  them  —  that  is  a  well-trained 
pack  of  them  —  for  two  hours. 

PURE  ENGLISH  HOUNDS 

By  Charles  E.  Mather 

What  hounds  shall  I  use  ?  From  the  point  of 
view  of  one  who  wishes  to  follow  a  pack  of  fox- 
hounds across  the  country,  what  constitutes  a 
good  pack  of  hounds  .^  Fifteen  or  twenty  couple 
of  hounds  that  work  and  run  well  together  can 
find  a  fox,  where  foxes  are  to  be  found,  follow  the 
scent  to  the  death  or  until  the  fox  goes  to  earth, 
and  all  be  in  at  the  finish ;  all  the  while  keeping 
up  the  music  that  adds  the  charm  to  the  sport. 


I40  The  Sporting  Dog 

What  is  necessary  to  produce  this  result  ? 

1.  Uniformity  of  size;  and  of  color  if  you 
want  a  beautiful  pack ;  medium  size  preferred ; 
drafting  out  the  old  and  slow  hounds  annually 
and  keeping  those  of  special  merit  to  train  the 
young  hounds  in  the  early  fall. 

2.  Good  conformation  and  good  feet. 

3.  Good  nose  and  tongue. 

4.  Well-disciplined  hounds  that  will  not  run 
riot,  keen  to  work  and  quick  to  get  away  on  the 
fox,  and  with  endurance  to  last  out  the  run  as  long 
as  the  fox  stays  above  ground. 

5.  Hounds  that  will  trot  home  with  the  hunts- 
men at  the  end  of  the  day  with  their  sterns  up, 
feet  well,  and  be  ready  for  the  morrow. 

Now,  how  would  you  go  about  obtaining  a  pack 
of  hounds  to  produce  this  result ;  and  a  pack  that 
would  produce  its  like  from  year  to  year.? 

Let  us  suppose  that  you  wanted  to  race  horses, 
what  would  you  do?  Only  one  answer.  You 
would  purchase  from  the  best  families  of  thorough- 
breds that  your  purse  could  command.  The  fox- 
hound has  been  bred  with  care  for  a  longer  time 
than  the  thoroughbred  horse.  It  has  been  devel- 
oped to  a  greater  degree  of  perfection  and 
uniformity.  Its  pedigree  antedates  that  of  the 
thoroughbred  horse.  There  is  no  more  reason 
why  you  should  use  any  other  than  the  thor- 
oughbred hound    for    the    chase    than  why  you 


FOXHOUND.     ENGLISH   TYPE 

dancer.  Third  generation  bred  in  America  from  Belvoir  blood.  A  hound  of  high 
fiiiish,  with  intelligence,  nose,  and  voice.  Stallion  hound  of  Mr.  Mather's  kennel, 
near  Philadelphia.  The  heavier  chest  and  bone  can  be  perceived  by  comparing  this 
hound  with  those  of  Mr.  Varner. 


AMERICAN    FOXHOUND.     JULY   STRAIN 

Yorick.  Puppy.  White-black-tan.  Owned  by  W.  I.  Varner,  Varner,  Arkansas. 
Selected  by  Mr.  Varner  as  his  Derby  entry  for  the  Barre  meet,  1903.  The  lighter 
frame  and  head  of  the  American  hound  of  the  South  are  typically  plain  in  Mr. 
Varner's  young  favorite. 


Foxhounds  141 

should  use  other  than  the  thoroughbred  horse 
for  the  race. 

There  is  no  such  distinction  in  fact  as  an 
EngHsh  foxhound  and  an  American  foxhound. 
A  thoroughbred  foxhound  is  the  same  in  Eng- 
land as  in  America.  We  come  down  to  the  dis- 
tinction of  hounds  of  pure  blood  and  hounds  that 
have  been  crossed  with  other  breeds.  These 
crosses  have  been  so  numerous  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  breed  these  crossed  or  so-called  "  native  " 
hounds  with  any  degree  of  certainty  as  to  what 
the  produce  will  be.  It  is  a  demonstrated  fact 
that  every  departure  in  breeding  from  the  pure 
blood  is  a  step  backwards,  and  destroys  some  one 
of  the  qualities  necessary  to  that  perfect  hound 
for  the  chase  which  has  been  brought  about  by 
centuries  of  breeding  in  England.  When  this 
pure  blood  is  developed  in  America  and  hunted 
on  our  wilder  foxes,  I  think  that  the  result  is  a 
more  alert  and  active  hound,  although  in  time  it 
may  have  less  bone  than  those  bred  in  the  old 
country. 

In  my  opinion  the  American  hound  is  not  a 
distinct  breed.  Being  made  up  of  numerous 
crosses  from  time  to  time,  with  no  kennel  records, 
there  is  hardly  a  type  which  you  can  point  to  and 
say,  "  Now,  this  is  an  American  hound."  To 
illustrate  what  I  mean,  I  refer  you  to  two  "  Amer- 
ican "  hounds  which  were  winners  in  the  recent 


142  The  Sporting  Dog 

Brunswick  Fur  Club  trials  of  1903  and  supposed 
to  be  the  best  America  can  produce.  One  looks 
like  a  pointer  and  one  like  a  very  poor  sort  of  a 
half-English,  and  Mr.  Hitchcock  and  Mr.  Smith 
are  trying  to  persuade  themselves  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  a  breed  of  American  foxhounds. 
I  have  noticed  at  the  bench  shows  of  the  Ameri- 
can classes  that  the  first  prize  usually  goes  to  the 
hound  most  nearly  resembling  the  English  (or 
pure-blooded)  hound. 

I  have  seen  many ;  but  I  never  saw  a  hound  in 
America  which  I  thought  could  possibly  improve 
a  good  English  hound  by  crossing.  The  crossing 
has  all  been  done  —  by  those  who  know  anything 
about  it  —  by  breeding  their  best-made  American 
bitches  to  a  pure-blooded  English  hound.  All  the 
"  American  "  hound  men  breed  to  first-rate  pure 
blood  whenever  they  get  a  chance.  Yet,  if  you  call 
the  result  an  English  hound,  they  feel  offended. 
Oh,  dear,  no,  they  would  not  have  an  English 
hound ! 

I  would  no  more  think  of  breeding  to  Mr. 
Hitchcock's  "Judy"  or  to  Mr.  Smith's  "Shirley" 
than  a  Kentucky  breeder  of  thoroughbreds  would 
think  of  sending  his  Longfellow  or  Hanover  mares 
to  a  hackney  stallion ;  and  what  sort  of  a  mongrel 
do  you  think  the  crossing  of  "  Shirley  "  and  "  Judy  " 
would  produce  .f* 


CHAPTER   X 

BEAGLES 

If  the  white  man  who  first  saw  a  jack-rabbit 
felt  the  need  of  a  greyhound,  the  first  one  to  see 
a  cottontail  surely  resolved  to  send  back  to  Eng- 
land for  beagles,  and  when  he  attempted  to  hunt 
the  wily  and  pugnacious  'coon,  his  intention 
became  a  yearning.  American  cottontails  were 
made  for  beagles  or  beagles  for  cottontails,  and 
the  destiny  of  each  for  sporting  purposes  was 
complete  only  when  they  came  together. 

Historically,  the  development  of  beagles  in 
this  country  is  like  that  of  bird  dogs.  From 
colonial  times  these  small  hounds  were  brought 
over  by  Americans  or  by  visiting  Englishmen 
and  introduced  along  the  Atlantic  coast.  Few 
persons  bred  them  with  care.  Generally  they 
became  mixed  with  foxhounds  and  produced  a 
stock  of  small  hounds  resembling  the  English 
harrier,  which  was  spread  all  over  the  settled 
parts  of  the  country,  most  extensively  in  the 
South.  They  were  often  used  on  foxes,  espe- 
cially when  the  object  was  to  shoot  the  depreda- 
tors instead  of  to  capture  them  after  the  orthodox 

M3 


144  The  Sporting  Dog 

fashion.  These  half-sized  hounds  were  also  fav- 
ored on  deer  by  hunters  who  followed  the  plan  of 
slow-tracking. 

When  the  era  of  bench  shows  set  in,  all  dog 
breeds  and  beagles  with  the  rest  began  to  be 
systematized.  The  pioneer  of  American  breeders 
was  General  Rowett  of  Carlinville,  Illinois.  He 
selected  his  foundation  stock  carefully,  and  to 
this  day  most  beagles  which  may  be  called 
American-bred  trace  to  his  kennel.  His  stand- 
bys  were  Sam  and  Dolly.  He  bred  about  1880 
a  dog  called  Warrior,  which  became  the  property 
of  Mr.  Turner  of  St.  Louis  and  sired  from  Rosy, 
another  Rowett,  the  famous  Champion  Lee,  chief 
winner  in  some  of  the  New  York  bench  shows, 
and  the  patriarch  of  the  kennel  of  Mr.  Pottinger 
Dorsey  of  New  Market,  Maryland,  who  was  for 
years  the  most  prominent  American  breeder. 
Mr.  Dorsey  bred  Fitzhugh  Lee  and  Lee  H, 
and  from  his  imported  Chimer  produced  Dor- 
sey's  Pilot,  another  of  the  successful  American 
sires. 

In  the  bench-show  fancy  the  climax  of  interest 
was  reached  in  1890  and  the  two  or  three  years 
preceding.  At  that  time  Mr.  W.  Stewart  Dif- 
fenderfer  of  Baltimore  was  exhibiting  his  favorite, 
Champion  Lou.  She  was  not  only  a  superior 
beagle,  but  was  so  attractive  in  disposition  that 
she  was  a  pet  on  the  bench.     Mr.  Diffenderfer 


k 

.^jBt 

i 

1 

BEAGLE.     WORKING   TYPE 

Champion  Freeland.  By  imported  Florist-Triumph.  In  view  of  championship 
field  winnings  Freeland  is  to  be  regarded  as  the  first  of  living  beagles  in  America. 
Height,  WVi  inches;  weight,  32  pounds.  Owned  by  Guyasuta  Kennels,  Bellevue, 
Pennsylvania.  On  the  home  side  he  is  descended  from  Dorsey's  Lee,  and  therefore 
from  Rowett's  beagles.  Handled  in  his  public  field  trials  by  Mr.  McAleer.  His  sons 
and  daughters  made  a  fine  record  of  winning  in  the  fall  trials  of  1 903. 


CHESAPEAKE    BAY   DOG 

This  is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  short-coat  type.  She  belongs  to  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  Dog  Club.  Bred  from  the  Carroll  Island  strain. 
Weight,  sixty  pounds      Sedge  color. 


Beagles  145 

once  showed  me  at  his  house  a  cabinet  filled  to 
overflowing  with  cups  and  medals  which  Lou 
had  won.  Mr.  A.  C.  Krueger  of  Pennsylvania 
was  exhibiting  at  the  same  time.  He  was  the 
owner  of  the  little  twelve-inch  dog,  Champion 
Bannerman.  He  also  at  different  times  owned 
Cameron's  Racket  and  Rattler  HI.  A  handsome 
and  shapely  little  dog  somewhat  lacking  in  sub- 
stance was  Royal  Krueger,  the  son  of  Champion 
Bannerman.  This  dog  was  exhibited  for  several 
years  by  the  Hornell-Harmony  kennels  of  New 
York,  and  his  name  appears  in  many  of  the  latest 
pedigrees.  The  Somerset  Kennels,  the  owner  of 
which  was,  I  think,  Mr.  Phoebus,  exhibited  suc- 
cessfully for  some  years.  Their  best  dog  was 
Storm,  which  was  so  fully  up  to  the  fifteen-inch 
limit  that  there  was  frequently  a  contest  over  his 
eligibility.  This  kennel  also  owned  a  superior 
bitch  called  Cloud.  Mr.  Shellhass  of  Brooklyn 
was  for  some  years  a  noted  breeder  and  frequently 
appeared  in  the  ring  as  judge.  In  Massachusetts 
and  other  parts  of  New  England  the  beagle 
became  a  favorite  hound.  Mr.  Reed  of  Barton, 
Vermont,  Mr.  Arthur  Parry,  Mr.  Laick,  and  Mr. 
Rutter  of  Massachusetts  were  prominent  patrons 
of  the  breed. 

With  the  introduction  of  field  trials  in  1889 
the  interest  in  bench  shows  rapidly  declined 
among  the  beagle  men,  and  in  the  last  few  years 


146  The  Sporting  Dog 

the  entries  at  bench  shows  have  been  few, 
although  the  quahty  from  the  bench-show  stand- 
point has  been  fully  maintained. 

Mr.  Parry  won  first  honors,  which  included  the 
special  prize  for  the  best  dog  of  all  classes,  at  the 
inaugural  trials  of  1889,  with  the  wonderfully  good 
all-round  dog,  Frank  Forest.  Frank  had  won  a 
championship  on  the  bench,  being  the  best  show 
dog  of  his  time  with  the  possible  exception  of 
Fitzhugh  Lee.  He  was  a  happy  medium  between 
the  overstout  English  dog  and  the  rather  weedy 
sort  which  began  to  appear  too  frequently  in 
American  kennels.  He  was  of  a  good  white- 
black-tan  color,  and  strong  at  all  points.  His 
field  winnings  show  that  he  was  a  little  dog 
of  first-rate  nose  and  pace.  He  is  a  most  impor- 
tant figure  in  pedigrees  of  the  strictly  American 
branch.  An  illustration  of  this  is  the  line  of 
breeding  to  the  present  popular  American  sire, 
Sailor.  Frank  Forest  sired  Clyde,  Clyde  sired 
Royal  Forest,  and  Royal  Forest  sired  Sailor. 

Frank  Forest  was  sired  by  Riot,  bred  by  Mr. 
Dodge  of  Michigan,  from  Rowett  stock  and  by 
Rattler  out  of  Spider.  Mr.  Reed  of  Vermont  was 
the  breeder  and  owned  Frank's  dam,  Skip,  a  stout 
and  strong  hound.  The  breeding  is  an  example 
of  the  occasional  success  of  depending  upon  get- 
tins^  a  mean  between  two  extremes.  Riot  was  a 
dog  which   few  breeders  liked  as  an  individual. 


Beagles  147 

He  was  my  property  between  1889  and  his  death 
some  three  years  later.  He  was  a  small  dog, 
scarcely  thirteen  inches,  and  utterly  lacking  in 
substance.  He  had  a  badly  pinched  muzzle, 
small  bone  and  a  color,  nearly  all  black,  which 
was  unattractive;  yet  he  possessed  what  might 
be  called  the  type  qualities  to  a  conspicuous 
degree.  He  had  perfect  eyes  and  expression,  a 
good,  hard  coat  and  a  brush  just  right  in  length 
and  texture.  He  was  owned  by  Mr.  Krueger  at 
one  time,  but  afterwards  went  to  Michigan  where 
I  obtained  him. 

Riot  was  a  queer  little  beast.  He  was  entirely 
useless  in  the  field,  being  incurably  gun-shy.  He 
had  a  nose  so  exquisite  that  he  astonished  the  old 
rabbit-hound  owners  down  on  the  Eastern  Shore 
of  Maryland  where  I  kept  him.  The  coldest  trail 
had  no  puzzles  for  him,  and  his  voice  was  as  mellow 
as  a  French  horn.  His  gun-shyness  did  not  ap- 
pear to  result  exactly  from  fright,  but  he  treated 
the  noise  rather  as  if  it  were  disagreeable.  He 
would  hunt  with  zest  until  a  gun  went  off.  Then, 
without  lowering  his  brush  or  appearing  to  be  in 
the  least  alarmed,  he  would  quickly  turn  around 
and  trot  off  home.  I  also  owned  Frank  Forest's 
sister,  Dolly,  a  charming  little  hound.  When  I 
gave  up  my  beagles.  Riot  and  Dolly  were  left 
on  the  Eastern  Shore,  and  I  am  told  that  their 
descendants,  now  sadly  degenerate  with  plebeian 


14B  The  Sporting  Dog 

rabbit-dog  blood,  are  still  following  trails  in  the 
pine  thickets  of  that  section. 

Another  good  little  hound  whose  name  appears 
in  modern  pedigrees  was  Champion  Ringwood. 
One  of  the  best  bitches  of  her  day  was  Champion 
Lonely,  whose  name  also  frequently  appears  in 
the  recent  editions  of  the  studbook. 

Some  five  or  six  years  ago  there  was  in  the 
East  a  revival  of  interest  in  regular  beagle  packs. 
It  was  accompanied  by  importations  from  Eng- 
land, where  these  hounds  are  bred  to  a  much 
closer  uniformity  of  appearance  and  quality  than 
on  our  side.  Among  the  kennels  which  have 
regular  organization  and  which  both  exhibit  on 
the  bench  and  use  hounds  in  the  field  are  the 
Guyasuta  (Messrs.  McAleer  and  Johnston),  the 
Rock  Ridge  (Mr.  Rockefeller),  the  Windholme 
(Mr.  Peters),  the  Somerset  (Mr.  Post),  and  the 
Hempstead  (Mr.  Kernochan)  packs  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  New  York,  and  the  Middlesex  (Mr. 
Higginson)  beagles  near  Boston.  Mr.  Kernochan 
died  recently  and  his  beagles  were  dispersed 
before  that  event.  The  Guyasuta  pack  includes 
Champion  Freeland,  one  of  the  few  winners  of 
beagle  championships  in  the  field.  He  was 
sired  by  Florist,  apparently  the  most  valu- 
able of  recent  importations.  Other  dogs  im- 
ported during  this  recent  revival  were  Truman, 
Primate,  Fiddler,  Orangeman,  and   Pilgrim.     Mr. 


ft^Pil^ 


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Beagles  149 

Kernochan,  whose  death  has  recently  lost  a  high- 
spirited  sportsman  to  the  American  world,  was 
the  most  liberal  importer.  He  gave  up  his  regu- 
lar pack  before  he  died,  and  his  best  hounds 
became  the  heads  of  several  promising  kennels. 
Imported  Baronet  has  also  become  a  successful 
sire. 

Rather  a  remarkable  little  hound  is  Sailor, 
owned  by  Mr.  Peterson  of  Homestead,  Pennsyl- 
vania. He  may  be  called  strictly  American-bred. 
His  pedigree  includes  Frank  Forest,  Rattler, 
Bannerman,  and  Cameron's  Racket.  He  is  small, 
barely  over  the  thirteen-inch  point,  but  was  suc- 
cessful in  the  trials. 

Kentucky  has  become  quite  a  beagle  centre 
recently.  The  leading  kennel  there  seems  to  be 
that  of  Mr.  Laurence  Gentry  of  Lexington.  His 
principal  dog  is  Champion  Blitz.  This  little  bench- 
show  champion  is  partly  of  imported  blood,  being 
by  Baronet,  and  partly  of  what  we  call  our  Ameri- 
can strains.  His  dam's  pedigree  includes  Ring- 
wood,  Lonely,  and  Bannerman. 

Another  young  beagle  w^iich  did  some  sharp 
winning  as  a  puppy  is  Alonsita  Round.  He  may 
be  called  of  typical  American  breeding,  his  line 
including  Dorsey's  Pilot  and  Frank  Forest. 

Always  the  phrase  used  to  describe  the  beagle 
is  "  miniature  foxhound,"  and  nothing  could  be 
better,  since  it  describes  both  the  dog's  appear- 


ifo  The  Sporting  Dog 

ance  and  the  purpose  of  his  existence.  The  most 
important  feature  of  the  beagle  from  a  bench 
standpoint  is  the  head,  which  includes  ears. 
Under  the  standard  favored  by  most  judges  the 
head  makes  up  over  one-third  of  the  total  scoring, 
or,  to  be  exact,  thirty-five  points.  Much  impor- 
tance is  attached  to  the  eyes,  which  must  be  full 
and  pleading,  the  general  beagle  expression,  and 
the  ears,  which  should  be  very  long  and  of  pliable 
leather.  Frequently  in  ordinary-sized  beagles  the 
ears  spread  nearly  or  quite  seventeen  inches. 
Beagle  judges  also  are  sticklers  for  coat,  demand- 
ing a  rough  and  hard  texture,  the  reason  being 
that  the  dog  must  do  his  work  in  briers  and  other 
severe  cover.  The  tail  or  brush  is  also  looked 
upon  as  a  cardinal  point  of  type.  The  color 
should  preferably  be  the  tri-color,  or  white-black- 
tan,  of  the  best  foxhounds ;  but  it  may  also  be 
white-and-black,  white-and-tan,  or  mottled.  Some- 
times straight-bred  beagles  are  almost  solidly 
black-and-tan,  or  tan.  The  outside  limit  of  size 
of  a  beagle  is  fifteen  inches  at  the  shoulder.  Both 
in  field  trials  and  on  the  bench  it  is  common  to 
divide  entries  into  two  classes ;  those  between 
thirteen  and  fifteen  inches,  and  those  under 
thirteen. 

In  the  central  West  the  beagle  is  used  very 
little.  Rabbits  are  too  plentiful.  Consequently 
the  beagle  is,  in  the  first  place,  not  needed,  and,  in 


Beagles  1 5 1 

the  second  place,  his  work  does  not  show  to  ad- 
vantage when  the  rabbits  are  so  abundant  that 
the  trails  are  badly  mixed.  Meat  hunters  in  the 
West  can  kill  more  rabbits  with  a  bird  dog  than 
with  a  pack  of  beagles,  and,  to  tell  the  truth,  the 
sportsmen  who  are  not  meat  hunters  regard  the 
rabbit  as  an  inferior  game,  or  as  they  frequently 
express  it  "  nigger  meat."  A  little  farther  South, 
where  the  country  gets  rougher  and  more  thickly 
timbered,  half-bred  beagles  are  used  for  tracking 
deer,  though  most  of  the  deer  hunters  whom  I 
have  known  preferred  the  large  and  slow  foxhound 
of  the  English  type.  I  refer  now  not  to  the  more 
sportsmanlike  deer  hunters,  but  to  the  slow 
trackers  who  care  nothing  for  the  chase  and  are 
simply  after  the  market. 

Much  can  be  said  in  advocacy  of  packs  of  bea- 
gles bred  and  used  after  the  English  practice. 
With  us  that  custom  has  not  yet  taken  firm  root. 
When  we  write  of  packs,  it  must  be  understood 
that  the  term  is  not  precise.  We  may  mean 
either  of  two  things.  The  beagles  put  down  at 
our  field  trials  are  bred  and  hunted  for  individual 
merit.  The  pack  competitions  at  these  trials  are 
made  up  of  fours,  sometimes  eights,  selected  not 
without  regard  to  uniformity,  to  be  sure,  but  pri- 
marily for  class  in  performance  rather  than  sorti- 
ness  as  a  lot.  The  Guyasuta  beagles  are  a  field 
trial  and  hunting  kennel.     The  Rock  Ridge  bea- 


152  The  Sporting  Dog 

gles  are  of  the  same  sort.  On  the  other  hand 
Mr.  Higginson's  Middlesex  Hunt  pack  is  kept 
and  hunted  strictly  as  a  pack,  Mr.  Higginson 
using  his  hounds  both  on  hares  and  with  the  drag. 

In  establishing  a  regular  pack,  whether  the  in- 
tention is  to  ride  or  follow  afoot,  the  master  first 
seeks  uniformity  of  look  and  pace.  Uniformity  of 
look  includes  color,  size,  shape,  expression,  coat, 
and  the  typical  points  of  ear  and  brush.  It  is  a 
pretty  art  to  breed  up  to  a  finished  standard.  In 
work  a  perfected  pack  not  only  presents  equality 
of  pace,  but  similarity  of  style.  The  master  toler- 
ates no  flyers  in  front,  no  stragglers  behind.  The 
overfast  as  well  as  the  overslow  must  be  drafted 
out  and  sent  away  from  the  kennel.  Whatever 
the  duration  of  the  run,  the  hounds  must  not 
string  out. 

As  men  and  women  of  leisure  take  more  to  field 
sports,  no  doubt  beagle  packs  will  become  more 
numerous.  But  our  American  way  will  alone  do 
for  the  cottontail  hare.  It  best  suits  our  Ameri- 
can way  of  doing  things.  Beagles  are  selected 
and  hunted  that  they  may  drive  for  the  gun.  The 
cottontail  is  a  dodger.  Ahead  of  hounds  it  will 
almost  invariably  circle  back  after  a  few  minutes 
of  running.  There  is  no  sport  in  riding  to  that 
sort  of  hound  work;  not  much  afoot  without  a 
gun.  The  sport  is  for  the  hounds  to  keep  molly 
moving  until  she  comes  to  the    gun.     And    the 


Beagles  ^S3 

beagle  must  know  how  to  hunt  as  well  as  how  to 
strike  and  drive,  must  recognize  the  likely  places, 
and  search  for  the  cold  trail  left  by  the  cottontail 
in  its  ramblings  the  night  before. 

It  is  generically  a  difference  like  that  between 
American  hunting  of  the  fox  and  English  riding 
to  hounds. 

Field  trial  men  are  developing  a  cleaner  and 
more  active  type  of  beagle  here,  though,  curiously, 
the  separation  of  type  began  long  ago  in  England, 
and  by  regular  beagle  men  has  been  only  of  re- 
cent years  recognized  in  America.  From  Rowett's 
time  until  lately  beagle  men  accepted  the  type 
of  stocky,  cobby  hounds,  as  it  appeared  on  the 
benches.  But  the  more  active  fellows  are  ap- 
pearing in  all  public  field  competitions,  and  the 
change  will  probably  be  seen  more  distinctly  than 
heretofore  on  the  bench. 

Keeping  a  regular  pack,  with  an  eye  to  both 
pack  appearance  and  pack  running,  should  be  an 
attractive  fancy  for  American  ladies  who  take  to 
outdoor  recreation.  It  is  both  science  and  amuse- 
ment to  maintain  such  a  pack,  with  all  the  inter- 
est of  a  foxhound  pack  at  one-tenth  the  expense. 

Maintenance  of  regular  packs  of  either  beagles 
or  foxhounds  goes  against  the  grain  of  one  basic 
law  of  American  sport,  a  law  which  explains  to 
some  extent  the  departures  from  English  methods 
in   all  sporting   dogs.      It  is  that  the   American 


154  The  Sporting  Dog 

dislikes  to  be  burdened  with  three  dogs  when 
one  will  do  the  work.  He  is  always  looking  for 
the  dog  of  accuracy  and  speed  to  take  the  place 
of  the  three  slow  dogs.  As  long  as  the  American 
has  no  landed  estate  of  his  own  for  a  game  pre- 
serve, as  long  as  he  must  usually  travel  a  distance 
to  get  his  sport  and  cover  a  lot  of  ground  to 
find  game,  this  will  be  the  prevailing  American 
custom. 

It  is  hard  to  say  how  far  the  pursuit  of  raccoons 
constitutes  an  approved  sport.  However  that  may 
be,  'coon  hunting  is  a  zestful  amusement  in  all  the 
South  and  Southwest,  and  possesses  fascinations 
for  many  gentlemen  whom  it  would  be  unjust  to 
designate  by  any  name  less  worthy  than  that  of 
true  sportsmen.  A  thoroughly  good  'coon  dog  is 
a  much  respected  individual,  and  his  fame  fre- 
quently spreads  far  and  wide  over  a  dozen  coun- 
ties. Sometimes  he  is  a  straight-bred  foxhound ; 
sometimes  a  straight-bred  beagle ;  sometimes  he 
is  a  mixture  of  the  two,  and  often  he  inherits  the 
blood  of  the  old  English  harriers  which  were  fre- 
quently brought  over  in  the  early  colonial  days. 
A  good  'coon  dog  must  be  reliable  as  to  nose, 
intelligent  in  hunting,  and  thoroughly  game.  The 
latter  quality  is  of  some  consequence  because  the 
'coon  is  a  good  fighter,  being  possessed  of  extreme 
activity  and  no  contemptible  punishing  powers. 
Of  course  a  'coon  does  not  usually  go  out  of  his 


Beagles  155 

way  to  find  a  battle,  and  in  most  cases  he  is  cap- 
tured after  he  has  been  treed.  But  even  then  he 
is  Hkely  to  get  away  unless  the  dog  is  willing  and 
capable  in  the  line  of  quick  and  busy  conflict. 

All  in  all,  the  beagle,  pure  and  mixed,  has  had 
a  career  in  the  hunting  experiences  of  the  United 
States  quite  as  important  as  that  of  the  foxhound 
and  not  much  inferior  to  that  of  the  shooting 
dog.  In  the  drag-hunt  and  "  tame  "  fox  country 
a  pack  of  beagles,  I  can  imagine,  is  more  desirable 
in  some  respects  than  a  foxhound  pack,  if  not  as 
elevated  in  dignity.  The  miniature  hound  is  a 
more  attractive  and  interesting  specimen  of  the 
dog,  and  a  beagle  pack  is  more  easily  kept  and 
handled. 


CHAPTER   XI 

CHESAPEAKES    AND    WATER-SPANIELS 

Retrieving  from  water  is  in  a  bad  way  as  part 
of  American  sport.  A  glance  at  the  benches  of 
any  show  tells  how  feeble  is  the  interest.  Unless 
it  is  one  of  the  stronger  Eastern  events,  there  are 
no  Chesapeake  Bay  dogs  and  a  few  ordinary  speci- 
mens of  the  Irish  water-spaniel. 

When  I  asked  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  old 
Baltimore  Chesapeake  Bay  Dog  Club  how  he 
explained  the  decay  of  that  breed,  he  replied, 
"  There  is  no  decay  of  dogs ;  the  decay  is  of 
ducks." 

Western  sportsmen  have  a  different  reason, 
though  the  "  decay  of  ducks  "  is  also  afflicting 
their  section.  I  asked  the  most  persistent  duck 
shot  among  the  club  men  of  St.  Louis  why  there 
were  not  more  dogs  of  the  water  sort.  His  answer 
was  :  "  Why  should  there  be  even  so  many  ?  It  is 
as  easy  to  gather  dead  ducks  as  to  pick  up  decoys, 
and  both  can  be  done  at  the  same  time.  We  keep 
three  or  four  Irish  water-spaniels  and  a  few  Chesa- 
peake Bay  dogs  at  the  club-house,  but  they  are 
seldom  used.     Nobody  cares  to  bother  with  them 

156 


Chesapeakes  and  IVaterspaniels       157 

when  they  are  really  of  no  service,  whether  you 
shoot  from  a  blind  or  a  tank."  His  opinion  is 
widely  representative,  since  for  two  generations 
St.  Louis  has  been  the  greatest  duck-shooting 
centre  in  the  world,  its  wild  fowl  territory  cover- 
ing an  area  of  lakes  and  "  slews  "  along  the  Miss- 
issippi and  Missouri,  beside  which  the  Chesapeake 
and  its  inlets  are,  with  all  their  fine  traditions,  but 
a  small  spot  on  the  map. 

In  the  central  West  and  down  through  Texas 
most  of  the  duck  shooting  is  on  still  water  — 
marshes,  small  lakes,  and  sloughs.  Ducks  lie 
where  they  fall.  As  the  St.  Louis  amateur  said, 
it  is  less  troublesome  to  gather  the  birds  when 
you  are  ready  than  to  handle  a  retriever  —  per- 
haps none  too  well  trained,  perhaps  hard  mouthed, 
and  certainly  a  wet  nuisance ;  not  to  be  overnice 
about  a  smell. 

My  St.  Louis  friend  added  a  supplementary 
verdict  to  his  dismissal  of  the  two  retrieving 
breeds.  "  If  I  were  going  to  use  a  retriever,"  he 
said,  "  it  would  be  an  Irish  setter.  Our  waters  are 
not  rough  and  our  autumns  mild  and  dry.  A 
setter  can  stand  the  work,  is  far  more  intelligent 
and  tractable,  and  is  a  quail  and  chicken  dog 
beside." 

Ducking  men  are  not  sticklers  for  pedigree,  and 
many  of  them  in  the  West  prefer  a  cross-bred  dog 
to  either  its  water-spaniel  mother  or  setter  sire. 


158  The  Sporting  Dog 

This  setter  and  spaniel  cross  is  enough  of  a  water- 
dog  for  all  ordinary  needs,  and  is  an  improvement 
in  brains  and  behavior.  Sometimes  the  cross 
makes  a  rattling  good  quail  and  snipe  dog. 

Everybody  is  familiar  with  the  Irish  water- 
spaniel.  He  is  so  unlike  any  other  dog  that  to 
be  seen  is  to  be  both  noticed  and  remembered. 
His  topknot,  his  bare,  'possum  tail  and  his  closely 
curling  coat  mark  him  in  any  dog  company. 

The  Chesapeake  is  not  so  peculiar  or  distinct. 
In  fact,  he  is  of  rather  common  appearance. 
Stout  and  strong,  sedge  or  rusty  brown  in  color, 
the  coat  dense  and  close,  he  is  not  a  beauty.  The 
breed  came  into  being  in  the  upper  part  of  the 
bay  shores  in  Maryland.  What  breeds  produced 
this  dog  is  not  fully  established.  The  staple  folk- 
yarn  of  the  Chesapeake  is  that  an  errant  princess 
of  the  dog  kind  travelled  out  on  the  marsh  seeking 
adventures,  and  had  a  love-affair  with  an  otter  of 
the  other  sex.  The  fruit  of  the  damosel's  romance 
was  the  Chesapeake  Bay  dog.  The  dense  coat 
and  fondness  for  water  are  the  contribution  of  the 
paternal  side.  This  version  of  the  ancient  tale  of 
the  Water  Nick  is,  of  course,  plain  rot.  If  the 
dog-maiden  had  encountered  an  able-bodied  otter, 
— even  throwing  aside  the  science  of  genus  fertility, 
—  she  would  either  have  kept  her  distance  or  ever 
after  have  rued  the  day  of  her  errancy. 

General    Ferdinand    C.  Latrobe,   ex- Mayor   of 


Chesapeakes  and  IVater-spaniels        159 

Baltimore,  who  is  the  best  authority  in  the  world 
on  Chesapeake  Bay  dogs  and  who  has  had  per- 
sonal supervision  of  the  strain  kept  by  the  Car- 
roll Island  Club,  the  classic  home  of  the  breed, 
says : — 

"  Many  years  ago  a  vessel  from  Newfoundland 
ran  aground  near  an  estate  called  Walnut  Grove, 
on  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake.  This  estate 
belonged  to  Mr.  George  Law,  a  member  of  a 
well-known  Maryland  family.  On  board  the  ship 
were  two  Newfoundland  dogs,  which  were  given 
by  the  captain  to  Mr.  Law  in  return  for  kindness 
and  hospitality  shown  to  himself  and  his  crew. 
The  beginning  of  the  Chesapeake  dog  was  a  cross 
between  these  Newfoundlands  and  the  common 
yellow-and-tan-colored  hound,  or  '  coon  dog,'  of 
that  part  of  the  country. 

"The  marked  characteristics  of  the  Chesapeake 
Bay  dog  give  every  evidence  of  the  truth  of  this 
story.  The  strong  power  of  scent,  its  hardihood, 
its  shorter  hair,  its  medium  size,  and  its  remarkable 
endurance  come  from  the  hound,  while  its  love  of 
water,  its  powers  of  swimming,  its  extraordinary 
ability  to  endure  cold,  its  furry  coat,  wonderful  \  o 
intelligence,  and  general  good  temper  are  all  due  [  \ 
to  the  Newfoundland.  There  has  doubtless  been 
added,  from  time  to  time,  some  water-spaniel  cross, 
which  has  helped  its  remarkable  retrieving  quali- 
ties.   The  yellow-and-tan  of  the  hound,  combined 


i6o  The  Sporting  Dog 

with  the  black  of  the  Newfoundland  and  the  in- 
troduction of  the  spaniel,  produced  the  liver  color 
of  the  true  Chesapeake  Bay  dog.  In  course  of 
time  the  Chesapeake  Bay  has,  in  Maryland,  be- 
come a  distinctive  breed. 

"At  the  Carroll  Island  Club,  of  which  the 
writer  has  been  a  member  for  over  thirty  years, 
and  the  records  of  which  go  back  for  over  a 
century,  this  strain  of  dogs  have  been  carefully 
bred,  and  for  many  years  the  pedigrees  have 
been  kept.  The  same  care  in  breeding  the 
Chesapeake  Bay  has  been  followed  at  some  of 
the  other  clubs. 

"  From  Carroll's  Island  the  stock  has  been  sent 
to  the  Curri tuck-sound  clubs,  and  also  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  On  the  island  are  still  preserved 
many  of  the  old  names  of  celebrated  dogs.  We 
have  now  a  Jimmie,  Turk,  Dan,  Jack,  Gill, 
Mollie,  Lady,  Tim,  Drake,  Belle,  etc.,  the  wonder- 
ful retrieving  powers  of  whose  ancestors  are  fully 
set  forth  in  the  records  of  the  '  big  bags '  of  days 
gone  by." 

On  the  bench  the  chief  exhibitor  among  the  old 
Chesapeake  Dog  Club  set  was  Mr.  J.  D.  Mallory, 
who  usually  took  out  most  of  the  ribbons  when 
he  put  his  dogs  down. 

Both  the  Irish  water-spaniel  and  the  Chesa- 
peake Bay  dog  are  gallant  swimmers  and  hardy 
retrievers.     The  Irishman  is  sadly  weak  in   the 


Chesapeakes  and  IVafer-spaniels       i6i 

quality  of  temper,  and  neither  of  these  breeds 
smells  too  sweet.  In  the  dry  and  long  summers 
of  the  West  they  are  liable  to  skin  diseases  — 
mange  and  the  like.  The  Irish  spaniel  is  par- 
ticularly unfortunate  in  this  susceptibility  to 
eczema  and  mange.  So,  except  in  duck  retriev- 
ing as  a  steady  profession,  these  two  breeds  are 
not  attractive.  Few  men  get  more  than  a  week 
or  such  a  matter  on  ducks  in  a  year,  and  shooting 
becomes  thinner  picking  every  season.  So  the 
water  retrievers  do  not  win  supporters. 

Still,  there  are  followers  of  the  sport  who  stick 
to  their  retrievers.  The  Carroll  Island  Club,  of 
Baltimore  membership,  is  where  the  Chesapeake 
Bay  dog  is  most  highly  honored  and  most  care- 
fully bred.  Ducks  or  no  ducks,  General  Latrobe 
and  his  friends  will  no  doubt  maintain  the  excel- 
lence and  purity  of  their  strain  for  a  long  period. 
Many  good-working  Irish  water-spaniels  are  dis- 
tributed through  the  lake  country  between  the 
St.  Lawrence  and  the  Red  River  of  the  North, 
where  retrieving  is  a  necessary  adjunct  of  duck- 
ing and  where  the  water  is  too  chilly  for  a  setter, 
though  the  duck  season  begins  early.  An  excel- 
lent animal  of  the  useful  type.  The  O'Donoghue, 
left  a  family  up  in  that  region  when  he  died  a  few 
years  ago.  There  is  enough  other  good  blood  to 
preserve  the  integrity  of  the  breed  as  long  as  may 
be  desired.     Champion  Dan  Maloney  is  the  last 


1 62  The  Sporting  Dog 

typical  Chesapeake  I  have  seen  on  the  bench  in 
the  West.  But  there  are  many  others  in  private 
hands. 

If  ducks  could  be  protected  from  the  reckless 
slaughter  which  follows  their  flight  every  mile 
from  the  breeding  grounds  to  the  Gulf  and  back ; 
if  only  spring  shooting  could  be  effectually 
abolished,  these  two  breeds,  magnificent  in  the 
water,  would  have  an  increasing  popularity.  If 
the  ducks  are  to  disappear,  neither  breed  seems 
to  possess  the  agreeable  house  and  yard  qualities 
which  would  sustain  competition  with  other  dogs. 

Americans  who  study  the  dog  family  regret 
that  the  Chesapeake  Bay  dog,  until  the  advent 
of  the  Boston  terrier  about  the  only  breed  of 
native  production,  should  fall  into  decline  before  it 
is  sufficiently  established  to  breed  true  and  per- 
petuate the  type.  That  they  do  not  breed  re- 
liably is  the  experience  of  nearly  all  who  have 
made  an  experiment;  though  I  confess  that  I 
am  not  acquainted  with  the  kennel  records  of 
the  Carroll  Island  Club.  I  do  know  that  I  had  a 
bitch,  from  close-coated  sire  and  dam,  which  had 
a  long,  straight,  open  coat  and  a  rather  foxy  or 
Spitz  head ;  and  that,  bred  to  a  capital  close- 
coated  dog,  she  produced  straight  and  open  coats 
in  half  of  her  puppies.  Anybody  who  has  seen 
these  dogs  perform  in  the  water  would  share  the 
dog  fancier's  hope  that  the  breed  may  be  special- 


Chesapeake  and  IVafer-spanfels        16 


ized  and  perpetuated.  I  recall  one  splendid  chap 
on  the  ocean  beach,  which  would  dive  through 
the  heavy  breakers  by  the  hour  if  a  friendly  hand 
would  share  his  sport  by  throwing  a  stick.  We 
who  live  in  the  West  cannot  be  depended  upon 
to  help,  but  the  Chesapeake  dwellers  ought  to 
perfect  the  breed  if  only  from  pride  in  the  name. 


CHAPTER   XII 


FOX    TERRIERS 


While  it  requires  something  of  a  conscious 
effort  on  the  part  of  owners  to  make  a  practical 
sporting  dog  of  the  fox  terrier  in  America,  the 
wide  distribution  and  great  numbers  of  this  breed 
literally  force  a  special  attention.  Leaving  out 
mongrel  hounds  and  bird  dogs  of  doubtful  ex- 
traction, it  would  seem  that,  taking  the  country- 
over,  fox  terriers  outnumber  any  other  well-de- 
fined breed  of  dogs.  Their  sporty  appearance 
and  the  ease  with  which  they  are  kept  seem  to 
present  attractions  to  all  kinds  of  people. 

Since  visiting  at  a  friend's  place  in  the  coun- 
try some  months  ago,  I  feel  compelled  to  give 
fox  terriers  a  position  among  true  sporting  dogs. 
This  gentleman  has  a  large  property  and  man- 
ages a  still  larger  adjacent  estate  belonging  to 
female  heirs.  He  has  a  dozen  fox  terriers  about 
his  place  and  will  not  admit  any  other  dog.  His 
reasons  for  settling  down  on  these  terriers  invite 
reflection.  He  says  that  they  are  more  agreeable 
company,  are  better  watch-dogs,  do  not  suck  eggs 
or  worry  sheep,  stay  at  home,  are  hardier  and  less 

164 


WIRE-HAIR    FOX   TERRIER 

Ruby  Matchbox  (imported).  By  All  Bristies-Oronsay  Value.  Crystal  Palace 
winner  in  England.  Owned  by  Mr.  J.  Wallace  Wakem,  Chicago.  Typical  wire-hair 
terrier  in  size,  coat,  color,  and  expression. 


Fox  Terriers  165 

troubled  with  diseases.  Horses  and  cattle  like 
to  have  them  about,  and  rats  and  weasels  stay 
away.  On  the  sporting  side  he  finds  them  help- 
ful on  'coons  and  rabbits.  They  soon  learn  to 
trail  quite  a  little,  but  that  is  not  their  field  of 
usefulness.  They  are  good  on  'coons  because, 
while  they  are  weak  on  the  trailing  side,  they 
are  much  quicker  than  hounds  in  preventing  the 
escape  of  the  game  after  a  tree  has  fallen,  or 
when  for  any  other  reason  the  'coon  has  been 
compelled  to  take  the  ground.  When  rabbits  are 
numerous  enough  to  be  troublesome,  fox  terriers 
are  effective.  They  can  start  more  rabbits  than 
can  beagles  or  large  hounds ;  and  if  a  man  knows 
how  to  hunt  the  American  hare  and  how  to  sta- 
tion himself,  he  would  rather  have  a  dog  which 
starts  game  quickly  than  one  which  trails  faith- 
fully. As  to  squirrels,  my  friend  says  that  the 
fox  terrier  is  the  best  squirrel  dog  he  ever  saw. 

We  have,  therefore,  a  legitimate  ground  on 
which  to  class  these  popular  little  dogs  as  mem- 
bers of  the  American  sporting  class. 

There  have  been  four  fortresses  of  the  fox 
terrier  fancy.  First  came  the  Blemton  (Mr. 
August  Belmont) ;  then  the  Warren  (Mr.  Ruther- 
ford), the  Cairnsmuir  (Mr.  Carnochan),  and  the 
Norfolk  (Mr.  Gooderham).  These  first  three 
have  been  around  New  York  and  the  last  at 
Toronto,  Canada.     From   these   great    nurseries 


1 66  The  Sporting  Dog 

fox  terriers,  both  smooth  and  wire  hair,  have 
been  distributed  all  over  the  United  States  and 
British  America.  Each  of  the  four  has  imported 
freely.  They  have  given  to  the  fanciers  the 
Vicary  and  other  fashions  in  English  terrier 
blood. 

There  have  been  two  high  tides  in  fox  terriers. 
The  first  was  when  Mr.  Belmont  had  the  gay 
little  white  dog,  Lucifer,  the  still  more  typical 
but  not  so  compact  Rachel,  Bacchanal,  Dusky 
Trap,  and  others.  In  the  height  of  his  enthu- 
siasm I  remember  seeing  Mr.  Belmont  industri- 
ously treading  the  sawdust  and  judging  a  large 
class  of  terriers  at  a  New  York  show  some  fifteen 
years  ago. 

The  other  wave  of  popularity  was  when  Mr. 
Carnochan  took  up  the  fancy  in  earnest,  and  Mr. 
Raper,  the  English  professional,  sent  over  the 
smooth  Claude  Duval  and  the  great  wire  hair. 
Go  Bang.  Mr.  Carnochan  not  only  placed  Go 
Bang  in  his  kennel,  but  also  secured  that  other 
son  of  Meersbrook  Bristles,  Champion  Thorn- 
field  Knockout.  Lately  he  has  kept  himself  at 
the  head  of  the  wire  hair  fancy  by  bringing  over 
Champion  Barkby  Ben. 

Mr.  Rutherford  now  has  Dusky  Don  11,  Clau- 
dian,  and  a  half-dozen  other  smooth  stud  dogs, 
and  has  recently  enlarged  his  kennel. 

From  these  four  kennels  and  from  many  other 


Fox  Terriers  167 

importations,  no  end  of  more  or  less  permanent 
establishments  have  been  undertaken,  covering 
every  state  in  the  Union. 

The  fox  terrier  must  surely  be  the  most  adapt- 
able of  all  dogs.  You  can  see  him  revelling  in 
the  snow  around  Duluth  and  St.  Paul,  equally 
lively  and  at  home  in  Mobile  and  New  Orleans. 

There  could  scarcely  be  such  a  thing  as  an 
exhaustive  study  of  fox  terriers  in  America  un- 
less one  were  going  to  bring  out  a  set  of  tomes 
like  that  of  the  California  Bancroft's  historical 
compilations.  Nothing  worth  while  would  at- 
tend such  an  attempt,  since  a  fox  terrier  is  a 
fox  terrier,  and  either  does  or  does  not  come  up 
to  the  standards  fixed  on  the  English  benches. 
Moreover,  our  English  friends  usually  manage 
every  year  to  trot  out  a  few  new  champions 
which  they  are  willing  to  send  over  to  replenish 
our  supply  and  perhaps  to  set  new  fashions  of 
long  heads  and  toppy  ear  carriage.  Every  bench- 
show  season  is  a  sort  of  new  era  in  terriers. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

CHOOSING   A    SHOOTING   DOG 

When  the  amateur  sportsman  has  means  and 
opportunity,  the  easiest  and  the  cheapest  method 
of  making  a  selection  is  to  buy  a  matured  dog 
which  has  beauty,  style,  speed,  nose,  brains,  fash- 
ionable pedigree,  and  a  finished  education.  But 
such  dogs  are  not  picked  up  every  day,  and,  like 
horses  of  the  same  class,  come  high  when  you 
undertake  to  purchase  them  from  men  who  un- 
derstand their  value. 

In  selecting  a  dog  or  judging  a  man  it  is  a 
good  rule  not  to  pass  judgment  on  defects  alone. 
There  never  was  a  perfect  dog,  and  critics  of  the 
shallow  sort  are  fond  of  exhibiting  their  knowl- 
edge by  dwelling  on  minor  defects.  What  you 
desire,  primarily,  is  a  dog  of  fairly  good  looks  and 
a  reliable  efficiency  of  work.  Keep  those  qualities 
always  in  mind.  Of  course,  you  wish  to  escape 
all  blemishes  as  far  as  possible ;  but  do  not  be 
misled  into  condemning  a  dog  good  in  essentials 
because  somebody  perceives  a  few  hairs  too  many 
at  the  end  of  the  tail  or  a  fraction  of  an  inch  less 
leather  than  he  fancies  in  the  ear. 

1 68 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  169 

In  the  field,  also,  be  careful  not  to  attach  too 
much  importance  to  slight  faults  which  appear  at 
a  first  trial.  Be  sure  that  the  dog  is  of  the  right 
stuff  and  then  go  ahead.  Remember  that  most 
of  what  a  dog  knows  he  learns  from  experience. 
A  young  dog  with  no  experience  is  likely  to  have 
many  faults  which  disappear  rapidly  with  work  on 
game.  You  cannot  compare  the  work  of  a  dog 
which  has  seldom  or  never  been  afield  with  that 
of  a  veteran  which  has  long  been  accustomed  to 
game.  An  experienced  eye  will  tell  quickly 
whether  a  man  or  dog  is  a  born  fool  or  rascal, 
but  the  amateur  cannot  afford  to  judge  hastily. 

Some  of  the  errors  which  make  the  worst  im- 
pression and  which  sportsmen  condemn  most 
severely  are  those  which  are  easily  cured.  There 
are  authorities  who  say  that  false  pointing  is  an 
inherent  weakness  of  either  nose  or  intelligence. 
I  am  surprised  that  any  man  who  has  owned 
dogs  should  make  such  a  statement.  One  kind 
of  false  pointing  may  be  an  incurable  disease  or 
weakness,  but  the  ordinary  kind  usually  disap- 
pears with  experience.  Most  of  the  immediate 
descendants  of  Count  Noble  had  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  false  point,  but  in  few  cases  was  it  per- 
sistent. Cincinnatus  was  an  example.  One  man 
who  attended  field  trials  at  that  time  condemned 
him  severely  and  told  me  that  the  dog  would  as 
soon  point  a  drove  of  pigs  as  a  bevy  of  birds.     I 


lyo  The  Sporting  Dog 

have,  however,  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Cincin- 
natus  was  not  a  good  bird  dog.  Certainly  Mr. 
Dager  used  him  for  regular  shooting,  as  he  would 
scarcely  have  done  if  the  dog  had  been  a  de- 
ceiver. A  daughter  of  Cincinnatus,  which  I 
owned,  was  in  her  first  year  a  most  annoying 
victim  of  this  fault.  In  her  second  year  I  took 
her  on  a  shooting  trip  to  the  Ozarks.  It  hap- 
pened that  the  place  I  visited  was  almost  entirely 
bare  of  game,  owing  to  a  severe  winter  the  pre- 
vious year.  Not  being  able  to  find  game,  the 
bitch  took  to  false  pointing.  I  think  it  safe  to 
say  that  at  times  she  pointed  a  hundred  times  in 
a  space  of  two  or  three  acres  where  there  was  no 
sign  of  birds.  She  had  been  worked  but  little 
for  some  time,  and  a  lack  of  practice  and  her 
anxiety  to  find  something  were  the  causes  of  the 
trouble.  Later,  when  she  was  put  in  regular 
training,  she  became  as  positive  and  clean-cut  in 
her  bird  work  as  a  man  could  wish.  For  several 
seasons  she  was  the  shooting  dog  of  Mr.  Weems 
of  Quincy,  Illinois.  He  is  a  practical  sportsman 
"  with  no  foolishness  about  him,"  and  he  regarded 
her  as  an  exceptionally  efficient  dog.  Field  trial 
dogs  often  show  this  fault,  from  the  fact  that  very 
few  birds  are  killed  over  them,  and  they  become 
a  little  puzzled  as  to  what  it  is  all  about.  This 
was  the  case  of  Seven-up,  a  fast  and  stylish  field 
trial  dog  in  his  Derby  year  and  several  times  a 


Choosing  a  S booting  Dog  171 

winner.  He  did  not  locate  at  all  well  at  that 
time,  but  when  used  in  regular  shooting  became 
accurate  and  skilful  in  his  bird  work.  Lady 
Maud  Mannering,  a  clever  winner,  also  devel- 
oped this  fault  for  a  time.  Sport's  Gath,  a  fine 
shooting  dog  as  well  as  a  distinguished  field  trial 
winner,  would  do  a  great  deal  of  false  pointing 
when  he  was  worked,  without  any  shooting  to  tell 
him  what  kind  of  game  was  wanted.  To  make  it 
clear,  I  should  add  that  in  treating  this  fault  as 
venial  I  am  considering  dogs  which  in  the  im- 
portant respects  show  character  and  intelligence. 
If  a  dog  is  silly  or  stupid  his  pointing  will  con- 
tinue silly  or  stupid. 

Gun-shyness  is  a  trouble  which  amateurs  and 
clumsy  trainers  are  unable  to  deal  with  success- 
fully. Except  in  extreme  cases,  however,  it  gives 
a  good  trainer  little  trouble.  Many  of  the  finest 
dogs  begin  that  way.  While  nobody  would  call 
it  a  merit  or  a  good  sign,  it  is  not  to  be  regarded 
as  any  great  misfortune,  if  only  the  handler 
possesses  a  little  tact  and  knowledge.  Jingo's 
Light,  the  pointer,  became  badly  gun-shy  from 
rough  handling  his  first  year.  He  is  but  one  of 
a  number  of  great  performers  which  went  through 
the  same  experience. 

There  is  one  fault  which  does  come  under  the 
head  of  good  signs.  That  is  flushing  in  the 
heyday  of  youth  and  inexperience.     A  young  dog 


172  Tbe  Sporting  Dog 

which  points  too  willingly  and  is  stanch  from 
the  first  is  not  likely  to  exhibit  later  any  great 
energy  or  class.  To  a  good  dog  the  stanchness 
on  point  comes  with  a  little  experience  and  only 
that  way.  If  a  young  dog  recognizes  game,  the 
fact  that  he  jumps  into  it  a  second  later  is  rather 
to  the  credit  of  his  courage  and  spirit  than  other- 
wise. At  one  of  the  Illinois  field  trials,  Dan- 
forth's  Nick  threw  himself  out  of  competition  by 
a  memorable  bit  of  flushing.  He  flushed  two 
large  bevies  one  after  the  other  and  had  both 
scattered  down  a  ditch  bank.  For  about  two 
minutes  he  kept  the  air  full  of  birds,  exciting  the 
laughter  of  the  spectators  and  the  ire  of  Updike, 
his  handler.  Nick  is  now  a  staid  and  sober 
shooting  dog,  retaining  his  speed  and  hunt,  and 
adding  thereto  an  entirely  comfortable  stanch- 
ness on  birds. 

Bolting  or  ranging  beyond  control  of  the 
handler  is  another  of  those  faults  of  which 
superficial  critics  make  much,  but  which,  in  nine 
cases  out  of  ten,  is  readily  controlled.  This  is 
the  fault  of  overboldness,  and  its  contrary  is  an 
apparent  shyness  and  timidity  in  the  kennel  and 
with  strangers.  This  latter  fault  is  another 
which  it  will  not  do  to  emphasize  too  much. 
Some  of  those  which  seem  most  shrinking  and 
quiet  around  the  kennel  are  the  boldest  and  most 
tireless  workers  when  they  get  out.      Vice  versa, 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  173 

some  of  those  which  are  the  most  fussy  and 
anxious  in  the  kennel  are  quitters  and  dullards 
in  the  field. 

Jealousy  is  a  bothersome  fault.  If,  however, 
a  handler  once  with  a  check-cord  gets  a  dog  in 
the  habit  of  stopping  at  command,  the  annoyance 
disappears. 

Defects  which  the  bench-show  experts  dwell 
upon  frequently  need  not  trouble  the  amateur 
sportsman  unless  he  intends  to  exhibit.  Bench- 
show  men  ask  for  narrow  shoulders  in  shooting 
dogs  and  greyhounds.  It  is  reasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  they  are  right,  and  yet  almost  every 
first-class  shooting  dog  has  round  and  muscular 
shoulders.  This  is  not  to  be  confused  with  heavy 
and  cumbersome  shoulders,  which  are  always  to 
be  condemned.  Even  in  greyhounds  the  rather 
thick  shoulder  is  the  rule  among  first-class  dogs 
as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  observe  them.  A 
dog  which  Mr.  Watson  picked,  not  only  as  the 
best  greyhound,  but  as  the  best  dog,  in  the  some- 
what celebrated  exhibition  at  St.  Louis,  in  1897, 
was  Magician,  a  son  of  Miller's  Rab.  Mr.  Wat- 
son specially  admired  the  dog's  narrow  shoulders 
and  straight  front.  Yet  Magician  was  never  a 
very  fast  dog,  was  a  very  poor  killer,  and  won  his 
coursing  honors  almost  purely  on  his  staying 
powers.  This  latter  attribute  he  did  not  get  from 
his  shoulders,  because    he  had  not  at  any  time 


174  The  Sporting  Dog 

what  one  would  call  a  smooth  gait,  at  least  as 
compared  with  real  flyers.  If  Mr.  H.  C.  Lowe 
ever  bred  a  dog  with  what  the  bench-show  men 
would  call  good  shoulders,  I  never  saw  it.  Yet 
no  other  man  has  ever  sent  out  as  many  winners 
of  the  first  flight. 

There  are  two  cardinal  questions  in  choosing 
a  shooting  dog.  One  is  the  breed  to  be  selected, 
and  the  other  is  whether  the  specimen  shall  be  a 
male  or  female.  As  to  the  breed,  the  inquirer 
would  do  better  to  learn  for  himself  which  he 
likes  best.  For  the  young  sportsman  I  should  be 
inclined  to  recommend  the  pointer  or  the  Laver- 
ack  English  setter.  Either  of  these  will  do  good 
work  with  less  of  scientific  handling  than  will  in 
most  cases  be  required  of  the  other  strains  and 
breeds.  The  modern  Laverack  is  generally 
docile,  responsive,  and  quick  to  begin  pointing. 
I  have  also  seen  many  young  amateurs  who  got 
along  well  with  Gordons.  These  dogs  are  usually 
rather  self-willed,  but  are  not  disposed  to  range 
out  of  hand,  and  are  generally  very  sure  from  the 
first  on  single  birds  in  heavy  cover.  Both  the 
Laverack  and  Gordon  have  the  additional  advan- 
tage of  carrying  their  pedigrees  in  their  looks,  and 
impress  all  bystanders  with  the  fact  that  they  are 
well  bred. 

In  picking  a  young  puppy  before  weaning  time, 
I  should  advise  the  amateur  to  select  the  fattest 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  175 

one,  provided  the  color  suits  him.  The  fat  pup 
will  not  necessarily  be  the  largest  one,  but  is  tol- 
erably sure  to  be  the  vigorous  and  aggressive  one. 
Only  tolerably  sure,  however,  because  the  runt  is 
sometimes  the  crackajack. 

In  the  matter  of  size,  I  emphatically  recommend 
the  medium.  Neither  very  large  dogs  nor  very 
small  ones  usually  carry  the  best  qualities  of  the 
breed.  The  normal  is,  nine  times  out  of  ten,  the 
right.  I  do  not  so  much  refer  to  the  disadvan- 
tages of  size  per  se,  as  to  the  fact  that  anything 
which  tends  abnormally  one  way  or  the  other  is 
likely  to  be  deficient  in  the  essential  qualities. 

In  the  matter  of  male  or  female,  my  own  judg- 
ment is  positive,  though  there  will  be  many  to 
disagree.  The  female  field  dog  usually  shows 
best  in  the  early  stages.  She  is  quicker  and  han- 
dier, and  has  enough  vixenish  fire  in  her  bird 
work  to  present  at  least  the  appearance  of  earnest 
effort.  On  the  other  hand,  I  say  without  hesita- 
tion that  I  never  saw  a  bitch  which  developed  first- 
class  head-work,  and  few  of  them  train  on.  To  be 
sure,  some  have  won  the  highest  championships, 
but  I  do  not  believe  that  they  did  it  with  their 
heads.  I  have  seen  a  number  of  high-class 
bitches,  but  I  never  saw  one  exhibit  those  feats  of 
intelli2:ence  which  I  have  seen  a  number  of  times 
in  the  setter  Doc  Hick,  and  more  than  once  in 
the  pointer  King  Cyrano,  as  well  as  in  other  dogs. 


176  The  Sporting  Dog 

Hick,  in  fact,  had  few  equals  even  among  his  own 
sex.  He  seldom  appeared  at  his  very  best  in  a 
field  trial,  because  he  usually  ranged  just  about 
far  enough  to  keep  a  little  outside  the  other  dog. 
It  was  his  head-work  which  made  him  specially 
superior,  and  it  required  some  knowledge  of  him 
to  fully  appreciate  his  faculties.  He  had  one 
habit  which  I  have  not  seen  elsewhere  developed 
to  the  same  degree,  but  which  every  field  dog 
could  have  with  benefit.  He  never  bolted  and 
never  came  in  to  his  handler,  but  whenever  he 
went  down  into  a  ditch  or  behind  a  clump  of 
bushes  he  would  turn  his  head  around  in  a  pecul- 
iar way  and  take  a  glance  to  see  whether  the 
handler  was  coming  along;  then  he  would  dash 
on  about  his  hunting  business. 

There  may  be  bitches  which  have  this  sort  of 
mental  faculty,  but  I  can  only  say  that  I  never 
saw  one.  My  advice,  therefore,  is  that  if  one 
wants  a  snappy,  quick,  handy  dog,  he  would  prob- 
ably be  better  satisfied  with  a  female.  It  is  only 
justice  to  say,  too,  that  more  dogs  than  bitches  are 
likely  to  loaf.  But  for  the  very  highest  class  of 
work,  which  includes  a  recognition  of  conditions 
and  dealing  with  them  to  the  best  advantage,  I 
should  say  decidedly,  Stick  to  the  dog. 

In  gathering  together  morsels  of  advice  for  the 
amateur,  I  might  cite  a  verdict  which  I  recently 
saw  in  a  letter  from  Dr.  Rogers  of  Mississippi,  an 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  177 

experienced  field  shot  and  a  popular  field  trial 
judge.  Grading  the  dogs  which  he  has  seen, 
Dr.  Rogers  places  them  in  this  way:  for  speed, 
Paul  Bo,  setter ;  range,  Daisy  Hope,  setter ;  bird 
sense.  Jingo,  pointer;  handling,  Bohemian  Girl, 
setter;  nose,  Gath,  setter;  iron  courage,  Glad- 
stone, setter.  It  seems  that  Dr.  Rogers  picks  the 
pointer  for  natural  cleverness  in  dealing  with 
birds,  and  the  setter  for  speed,  courage,  and  per- 
haps acute  nose. 

In  the  matter  of  color  for  either  pointer  or  set- 
ter, I  rather  prefer  orange-and-white,  with  plenty 
of  white,  but  it  is  not  the  fashion  in  either  breed. 
The  fashionable  color  for  pointers  is  liver-and- 
white,  and  for  setters  white-black-tan  with  good- 
sized  black  patches. 

Choosing  dogs  for  different  kinds  of  game  and 
different  sections  of  the  country  brings  up  again 
the  qualities  of  the  special  breeds.  Some  men 
use  cocker  spaniels  for  ruffed  grouse.  It  has 
always  seemed,  though,  that  they  sought  grouse 
in  order  to  work  the  spaniels.  Frank  Forester 
long  ago  nearly  covered  the  American  view,  Eng- 
lish-bred though  he  was,  when  he  said  that  on 
game  which  makes  a  very  slow  dog  necessary,  a 
good  shot  can  do  better  without  any  dog  at  all. 
If  a  shrewd  man  were  after  ruffed  grouse  on  a 
wager,  he  would  take  a  well-broken,  but  fairly 
speedy  setter,  or  would  leave  his  dogs  home  and 


178  Tbe  Sporting  Dog 

rely  upon  his  own  knowledge  of  the  bird's  habits. 
Shooting  certain  game  over  cockers  may  do  in 
England  where  the  game  is  preserved  in  known 
places,  and  where  it  may  be  "gathered"  almost 
as  a  boy  gathers  chestnuts  from  trees  which  he 
spotted  in  the  summer  woods  and  has  been  watch- 
ing ever  since.  In  America  somebody  or  some- 
thing must  find  game.     Ground  must  be  covered. 

So  with  woodcock  and  snipe.  There  are  times 
and  places  when  a  spaniel  or  a  very  slow  pointer 
would  keep  the  air  vibrant  with  good  shooting, 
but  the  vigilant  shot  under  such  joyous  circum- 
stances would  kick  up  his  own  shooting.  On 
most  of  the  woodcock  and  snipe  days  when  the 
birds  are  scarce  enough  to  call  for  the  services  of 
a  dog,  what  a  man  needs  is  one  which  will  keep 
moving,  well  out  at  times,  has  a  long-range  nose 
and  both  decision  and  caution  in  signifying  the 
presence  of  birds.  Only  a  pointer  or  setter  can 
so  perform,  and  the  setter  is  likely  to  be  the 
better  on  account  of  water  and  thick  cover. 

On  prairie  chicken  I  like  a  pointer.  While 
the  nights  may  be  cool,  the  days  are  hot  in  the 
prairie  country  during  the  chicken  season.  A 
setter  stands  heat  as  well  as  a  pointer,  but  he  does 
not  manage  it  as  well.  Setter  men  would  assign 
the  cause  to  the  pointer's  not  being  a  plucky  dog 
under  discomfort;  pointer  men  would  put  it  on 
the   ground    that    their   breed    has    more   sense. 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  179 

Anyhow,  a  setter  of  good  class  generally  over- 
heats himself  in  August  or  early  September 
chicken  shooting  by  beginning  at  a  pace  too  fast. 
He  either  pumps  himself  out  or  loses  his  nose. 
The  pointer  usually  regulates  his  speed  better 
and  gives  a  more  killing  day.  He  does  not  begin 
with  a  gait  beyond  his  capacity  to  stand  the  hot 
weather.  On  the  prairie  the  setter's  only  advan- 
tage is  that  his  feet  stand  the  cutting  effect  of  the 
dry  grass  much  better. 

In  the  quail  season  the  comparison  is  reversed 
and,  all  things  considered,  the  setter  is  the  more 
useful  dog  in  average  quail  country,  the  pointer  s 
one  decided  advantage  here  being  his  indifference 
to  the  always  recurring  bur  troubles  of  the  setter. 

This  all  goes  to  the  question  of  relative  effi- 
ciency. A  man  can  get  his  fun  and  sport  with  a 
cocker  or  any  dog  which  he  fancies  and  knows 
how  to  handle.  Maybe,  if  we  Americans  devoted 
more  attention  to  the  pleasure  of  trying  the  spe- 
cial qualities  of  different  dogs  and  less  to  mere 
shooting,  field  sport  would  really  be  better  worth 
while.  As  the  sport  goes,  however,  the  rule 
stands  that  the  devotee  would  for  all  American 
upland  game  better  use  a  tolerably  fast  and  busy 
setter  or  pointer,  or  depend  on  his  own  fieldcraft. 
The  cocker  and  other  sporting  spaniels  are  en- 
gaging little  fellows,  among  the  brightest,  most  in- 
telligent and  affectionate  of  dogs.     They  quickly 


i8o  The  Sporting  Dog 

learn  to  obey  whistle  and  voice.  The  spaniel 
style  of  hunting  is  with  nose  to  the  ground.  The 
style,  with  their  short  legs  and  heavy  bodies, 
makes  their  range  limited;  as,  in  fact,  the  pur- 
pose of  their  breeding  contemplates.  It  is  not 
desired  that  they  travel  wide.  They  penetrate 
any  cover  and  in  a  rough,  tangled  country  can 
rout  out  game  better  than  most  dogs.  One  who 
likes  and  understands  them  can  make  them  useful 
and  pleasurable  in  certain  kinds  of  shooting.  It 
still  remains  true,  however,  that  in  America  the 
setter  and  pointer,  even  on  grouse  and  woodcock, 
are  much  more  serviceable  to  the  gun. 

When  the  tramp  is  the  first  motive  and  shoot- 
ing an  incident;  when  one  is  botanist  by  avoca- 
tion and  sportsman  as  bird  or  beastie  may  happen ; 
when  the  wandering  is  for  the  sake  of  woods  and 
fields,  with  the  contingency  of  knocking  over  a 
cottontail  or  squirrel  or  grouse  if  it  taunts  the 
eye  and  gun,  then  the  sporting  spaniel  for  me. 
The  cocker  or  field  spaniel  will  get  into  less 
trouble  and  make  more  entertainment  than  any 
other  dog.  You  can  talk  friendly  gossip  to  him 
and  have  always  a  responsive  audience.  Any- 
thing that  pleases  your  lazy  hours  to  teach,  he 
will  learn.  You  could  not  lose  him  if  you  tried. 
He  will  watch  while  you  sleep,  and  with  nose, 
ear,  and  brain  most  exquisitely  acute.  While  he 
is  not  a  producer  of  big  bags,  his  area  of  action 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  i8i 

being  small,  he  will  hustle  out  a  wonderful  variety 
of  game  in  a  loiter  of  a  few  days  and,  unless  he 
is  a  Clumber,  will  always  tell  you  about  it  aloud 
in  time.  No  dog  within  my  knowledge  is  so 
readily  brought  under  command  and  so  human  in 
its  companionship.  Breeding  for  shortness  of  leg 
and  perfection  of  coat  has  not  yet  diminished 
these,  his  psychical  charms.  His  thick  jacket 
will  be  a  receptacle  of  burs  and  mud,  but  it  will 
protect  him  in  brier  and  rain.  In  an  outing  afoot 
for  its  own  sake,  pick  the  sporting  spaniel  ahead 
of  everything  else  canine. 

He  who  would  cut  up  the  map  into  sections  for 
the  assignment  of  dogs  thereto  must  know  much 
beside  temperatures.  In  far  Manitoba  pointers 
are  popular  because  pinnated  and  sharp-tail 
grouse  are  the  best  game,  and  August  and  Sep- 
tember the  best  season.  In  the  Gulf  States 
setters  are  used  freely,  because  there  they  shoot 
quail  all  winter  and  mostly  in  brushy  country. 
The  dogs  which  are  most  successful  in  the  East 
also  seem  to  excel  on  California  quail  and  gen- 
erally through  the  Pacific  slope.  It  would  be 
wise  to  find  what  is  to  be  done  before  checking 
off  sections  for  different  breeds  or  different  types. 

When  pondering  on  a  pedigree,  the  amateur 
will  find  all  kinds  of  opinions.  I  should  be  in- 
clined to  put  it  in  this  way,  beginning  with  Eng- 
lish setters.     If  you  desire  a  fashionable  pedigree, 


1 82  The  Sporting  Dog 

look  for  Tony  Boy,  Count  Gladstone  IV,  Rod- 
field,  or  one  of  their  sons.  If  you  wish  to  be  sure 
of  having  a  first-rate,  genuine,  determined  bird 
dog  be  sure  to  have  Marie's  Sport  or  Prince  Luci- 
fer blood  close  up.  I  am  inclined  to  place  great 
faith  in  Prince  Lucifer  blood,  since  every  dog 
I  ever  saw  which  typed  after  that  sire  was  good. 
Not  to  mention  such  field  trial  winners  as  Sport's 
Solomon,  Sport's  Boy,  Sport's  Lady,  and  Dash 
Antonio,  all  having  Lucifer  dams,  I  can  cite  the 
case  of  a  dog  by  a  son  of  Prince  Lucifer,  which  I 
owned  and  afterwards  sent  down  to  Maryland. 
He  w^as  a  genuine  bird  dog  through  and  through, 
and  was  one  of  the  few  which  always  retrieved  on 
the  run,  perfectly  willing  to  retrieve,  but  cheer- 
fully anxious  to  get  through  with  it  and  go  about 
his  hunting  again.  There  was  something  spar- 
kling and  soldierly  about  this  dog,  which  especially 
attracted  everybody  who  saw  him  work. 

Recognizing  an  appearance  of  inconsistency, 
considering  what  has  been  said  in  this  volume  in 
praise  of  the  many  superior  public  winners  of 
such  breeding,  the  author  should  caution  ama- 
teurs who  contemplate  the  purchase  of  young 
Llewellin  setters  of  the  fashionable  blood  repre- 
sented by  the  descendants  of  Count  Gladstone 
IV  and  Roderigo.  In  the  characteristic  sub- 
families of  that  blood  about  two  puppies  out 
of   five  will   be  attractive  dogs.      The  best  are 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  183 

delightful  realizations  of  class.  But  three  out  of 
five  are  likely  to  be  insignificant,  frivolous,  and 
useless  to  any  good  sportsman.  Why  this  is  a 
fact  is  a  story  of  some  tedium  and  need  not  be 
told ;  nor  has  it  anything  to  do  with  straight 
breeding  or  inbreeding.  It  is  enough  to  warn 
readers  who  are  not  acquainted  with  the  secrets 
of  field  trial  kennels  that  it  is  a  fact,  and  that  they 
would  better  not  order  from  a  distance  young 
dogs  of  this  fashionable  blood  without  a  guaran- 
tee of  individual  worth. 

In  the  pointer  pedigree,  fashion  requires  Rip 
Rap  and  Jingo  blood.  Perhaps  extreme  fashion 
would  be  something  like  this :  by  King  Cyrano, 
Lad  of  Jingo  or  Jingo's  Light,  out  of  a  dam  by 
Young  Rip  Rap,  Ripstone,  or  Plain  Sam.  For  a 
comfortable  and  reliable  shooting  dog,  I  should 
look  for  the  Jingo  blood  crossed  on  the  best  of 
the  Croxteths,  say  the  descendants  of  Trinket's 
Bang  or  Ossian. 

It  may  be  useful  for  an  amateur  to  know  that 
there  are  differences  in  temper,  among  not  only 
individuals,  but  breeds.  Irish  and  Gordon  frailty 
in  preserving  their  good  humor  may  partly  ac- 
count for  their  lower  degree  of  popularity.  Gor- 
dons are  the  most  uncertain  of  temper,  Irish  next, 
then  pointers;  and  English  setters  are  the  most 
cheerful  with  friend  or  foe.  A  Gordon  is  likely 
to  be  morose  and  sulky  under  correction,  often 


184  The  Sporting  Dog 

showing  resentment  for  a  long  time  afterwards. 
At  the  other  extreme,  an  EngHsh  setter  usually 
takes  reproof  amiably,  jumps  up  gayly,  and  forgets 
his  grief. 

To  sum  it  up,  whether  of  one  breed  or  one 
strain  or  another,  you  should  look  for  moral  stam- 
ina, nervous  energy,  and  proper  physical  propor- 
tions. Next  demand  beauty  and  breediness,  and 
lastly  insist  on  pedigree.  If  you  can  get  these 
qualities,  you  have  a  dog  as  good  as  anybody's, 
no  matter  in  what  company  you  shoot. 

One  scientific  and  practical  reason  for  demand- 
ing a  pedigree  lies  entirely  apart  from  mere  fashion 
and  prestige,  and  rests  upon  what  might  be  called 
the  potentiality  of  inheritance. 

Every  man  who  has  had  occasion  to  employ 
large  numbers  of  men  or  women  has  more  or 
less  clearly  perceived  the  strange  abruptness  with 
which  an  individual  will  come  up  against  the 
limit  of  his  or  her  powers,  a  limit  beyond  which 
further  development  is  hopeless.  In  my  own  pro- 
fession I  have  employed  several  hundred  young 
men  and  women.  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  that 
they  were,  as  people  go,  of  select  intellectual 
abilities.  Time  and  time  asrain  I  have  been 
startled  at  the  suddenness  with  which  the  limit 
would  be  reached  ;  and  at  the  utter  impossibility 
of  carrying  capacity  a  step  beyond  that  point. 

Last  year  I  asked  Dr.  Stanley  Hall  of  Clark 


Choosing  a  Shooting  Dog  185 

University,  one  of  my  boyhood's  teachers,  whether 
this  period  marking  the  cessation  of  mental  de- 
velopment had  ever  been  made  the  subject  of 
special  study  by  a  competent  expert.  Dr.  Hall, 
who,  as  his  old  pupils  are  proud  to  know,  is  the 
first  of  American  authorities  on  child  develop- 
ment, answered  that  no  investigation  of  conse- 
quence had  ever  been  applied  to  this  period.  I 
take  it  for  granted,  therefore,  that  it  is  still  an 
untilled  field.  One  can  easily  understand  the 
difficulties  of  conducting  such  an  investigation ; 
yet  the  results  would  be  of  definitely  more  value 
than  any  amount  of  child  study,  especially  since 
they  might  lead  to  a  discovery  of  the  indicia 
which  in  childhood  foreshadow  the  limitations  of 
development. 

However  this  may  all  be,  as  a  proposition  in 
general  science,  it  is  certain  that  in  a  pedigree 
of  high  performers  there  lie  possibilities  of  devel- 
opment. It  is  hard  to  tell  in  the  case  of  a  puppy, 
even  up  to  a  year  old,  just  what  direction  devel- 
opment will  take  or  how  far  it  can  be  carried. 
A  half-bred  yearling  horse  may  have  all  the 
appearance  and  action  of  a  thoroughbred  and 
may  entice  the  unwary  sportsman  into  the  ex- 
pense of  training,  but  in  a  race  at  anything  over 
half  a  mile  the  cold  element  will  show  itself. 
Puppies  of  poor  breeding  are  often  handsome, 
active,  and  attractive;  and  those  of  the  highest 


1 86  The  Sporting  Dog 

breeding  are  often  common  in  appearance  in  the 
early  stages.  At  maturity  the  poorly  bred  will 
become  common,  and  those  of  champion  ancestry 
will  show  their  blood.  There  is  a  strong  proba- 
bility that  the  latter  will  go  on  improving  for  a 
long  time,  and  that  the  former  will  stop  short 
and  often  go  backward  after  a  certain  limit  is 
reached. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  does  not 
constitute  an  invariable  rule  and  that,  like  most 
dogmas  which  relate  to  living  creatures,  it  is 
subject  to  many  exceptions  and  variations.  But 
Jthe  percentage  of  probabilities  is  immensely  on 
the  side  of  the  good  pedigree.  The  qualities 
of  the  great  ancestors  are  likely  to  ripen  into 
power ;  maybe  a  little  late,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
maybe  a  little  better  for  not  being  precocious. 
If  a  matured  dog  is  good  through  and  through, 
he  makes  his  own  pedigree.  But  I  should  never 
think  twice  of  a  young  one  which  had  not  a 
pedigree  of  public  performers.  Private  tales  of 
untested,  unwitnessed  performances  need  too 
much  verification,  about  as  much  as  a  mother's 
baby  yarns.  Public  competition  alone  is  the  basis 
of  value  in  a  pedigree. 


CHAPTER   XIV 

THE    DOGS    THEY    PREFER 

If  I  were  the  reader  and  somebody  else  the 
writer,  I  should  find  most  of  pleasure  in  this  chap- 
ter and  that  on  foxhounds. 

When  reading  articles  on  the  comparative 
merits  of  sporting-dog  breeds  and  individuals,  I 
have  usually  been  annoyed  by  soon  perceiving  a 
narrowness  of  view  and  a  limited  experience.  It 
may  be  the  fact  that  every  man's  natural  limita- 
tions make  him  narrow.  However  that  may  be, 
I  am  cheerfully  willing  to  confess  that  my  own 
experience  is  not  all  of  the  world.  To  furnish 
the  reader  with  the  results  of  competent  observa- 
tion by  disinterested  followers  of  field  sport  in 
different  parts  of  America,  I  have  asked  some 
representative  sportsmen  to  let  me  give  their 
views  of  what  a  shooting  dog  should  be. 

Mr.  Harry  R.  Edwards  of  Cleveland,  Mr.  H. 
Marshall  Graydon  of  London,  Canada,  and  Mr. 
Martin  Voorhees  of  St.  Louis  are  three  hard- 
going  and  genuine  amateur  field  shots.  Mr.  Ed- 
wards shoots  in  Ohio  and  also  on  his  preserve 
in  North  Carolina  and  other  parts  of  the  South. 

187 


1 88  The  Sporting  Dog 

What  he  says  was  written  to  me  in  a  private  let- 
ter some  time  ago.  He  at  first  refused,  but  finally 
gave  me  permission  to  make  it  part  of  this  volume. 
To  those  who  do  not  know  Mr.  Edwards  I  may 
say  that  he  is  a  modest  gentleman  who  would  be 
the  last  to  extol  his  own  dogs  or  discuss  in  public 
his  personal  recreations.  Just  as  I  esteem  the 
privilege  of  his  acquaintance,  the  young  reader 
seeking  information  should  esteem  the  unaffected 
recital  of  a  thorough  sportsman's  progress  from 
unsatisfactory  to  wholly  enjoyable  dogs.  To 
some  it  may  be  an  introduction  to  say  that  Mr. 
Devereux,  the  friend  and  associate  mentioned  in 
Mr.  Edwards's  letter,  is  the  foremost  amateur 
reinsman  of  America. 

Mr.  Graydon  tells  of  what  he  has  discovered 
about  the  kind  of  dogs  to  suit  the  Canada  coun- 
try in  which  he  lives.  Mr.  Voorhees  has  shot 
chiefly  in  Missouri,  Southern  Illinois,  and  the 
South  bordering  on  the  Mississippi.  He  is  a 
superb  shot  and  uncompromising  about  the  effi- 
ciency of  his  pointers  and  setters. 

All  three  have  shot  over  dogs  of  low  and  high 
degree.  Each  has  seen  his  private  shooting  dogs 
win  field  trials.  The  distilled  result  of  their  ex- 
perience appears  here  for  the  benefit  of  amateurs 
whose  ofJportunities  with  dogs  and  on  game  are 
just  beginning. 

Following  them  is  Mr.  P.  H.  Bryson,  the  owner 


The  Dogs  tbey  Prefer  189 

of  Gladstone  from  the  dog's  puppyhood  to  his 
death.  Mr.  Bryson  has  judged  at  numerous 
bench  shows  and  field  trials,  and  has  seen 
numbers  more,  besides  his  private  shooting  every 
year,  which  began  before  there  was  a  Llewellin 
setter  or  a  field  trial  pointer  in  the  world.  In 
many  treasured  private  conversations  Mr.  Bryson 
has  told  me  about  the  dogs  he  has  known.  When 
I  began  this  account  of  the  sporting  dog's  devel- 
opment in  America,  I  at  once  asked  Mr.  Bryson 
to  make  a  comparative  study  of  Llewellin  setters, 
taking  Gladstone,  the  foundation  of  the  Ameri- 
can type,  as  the  basis  of  comparison.  The  vet- 
eran sportsman  courteously  agreed,  and  I  have 
the  pleasure  of  putting  in  permanent  form  the 
ripened  conclusion  of  his  varied  studies. 

TRIAL  WINNERS  AS  SHOOTING  DOGS 

By  Mr.  Harry  R.   Edwards  of  Cleveland 

Some  ten  years  ago  Mr.  H.  K.  Devereux  and  I 
went  to  Mason,  Tennessee,  at  the  invitation  of 
Dr.  Maclin.  We  had  borrowed  four  dogs.  Like 
most  shooting  dogs,  they  were  worthless. 

Mr.  Devereux  had  a  dog  called  Spot  Cash,  one 
of  the  great  Vanguard-Georgia  Belle  litter,  in 
the  hands  of  George  Gray.  We  went  to  Grand 
Junction  to  see  Spot  Cash  run,  and  took  Dr. 
Maclin  with  us,  as  Devereux  had  purchased  Spot 
Cash  from  the  doctor. 


190  The  Sporting  Dog 

I  purchased  Trap  Jr.  from  Gray,  and  she  was 
the  first  good  dog  I  ever  owned.  I  also  purchased 
a  Dan  Burges  puppy  called  Harvard.  The  winter 
following  Devereux  and  myself  shot  over  Trap 
Jr.  and  Spot  Cash  and  for  many  years  thereafter. 
Spot  Cash  had  been  classed  a  bolter.  Yet  after  a 
little  shooting  he  developed  into  a  first-class 
shooting  dog.  Trap  Jr.  had  every  quality  she 
should  have  had  and  was  an  ideal  shooting  dog. 
Harvard  started  at  Bicknell,  Indiana,  and  was 
not  placed.  The  next  winter  we  used  him  to 
shoot  over.  As  he  developed  such  speed,  range, 
and  bird-finding  ability,  we  decided  to  start  him 
in  the  all-age  stakes.  In  the  meantime  I  had 
bought  Harwick,  and  in  1896  at  West  Point  he 
ran  second  to  Tory  Fashion  and  was  regarded  as 
high  in  class  as  any  dog  out  that  year.  The  sea- 
son following,  1897  and  1898,  I  started  Harvard 
and  Harwick.  Gray  had  them  both,  and  at  the 
same  time  handled  Marie's  Sport  and  Harold 
Skimpole.  Harvard  lacked  in  style  and  could 
not  be  classed  with  the  other  three.  Harwick 
had  broken  a  leg  as  a  puppy  and  this  handicap 
forbade  placing  him  that  season.  Ever  since 
1896  I  have  hunted  over  Harvard  and  have  yet 
to  see  a  dog  to  beat  him  in  giving  you  an  oppor- 
tunity to  shoot.  He  proved  to  be  what  I  term  a 
meat  dog. 

In    1898   Gray   placed    Harwick   third   in   the 


The  Dogs  they  Prefer  191 

all-age  at  West  Point.  That  year,  and  for  several 
years  after,  I  shot  over  Harwick,  and  cannot  im- 
agine a  more  attractive  dog.  He  had  been  spoken 
of  as  a  bolter.  The  first  time  I  had  him  out  in 
Ohio  in  a  very  close  country,  he  adapted  himself 
to  the  conditions  and  hunted  absolutely  to  the 
gun.  I  well  remember  being  out  with  some  Ohio 
sportsmen  in  the  Western  part  of  this  state.  We 
had  a  large  party,  and  a  number  of  dogs  well  re- 
garded by  their  owners.  One  evening  some  one 
said  he  did  not  have  any  use  for  a  field  trial  dog. 
A  friend  of  mine  spoke  up  and  said,  "  To-morrow 
I  wish  you  all  to  come  with  Mr.  Edwards  for  an 
hour  and  see  two  field  trial  dogs  work."  Seven 
men  went  out  in  the  party.  I  took  Harvard  and 
Harwick.  Notwithstanding  the  seven  guns,  these 
two  dogs  did  perfect  work  and  the  gentlemen 
said  they  had  never  seen  a  good  dog  before. 

I  bred  Harwick  to  Dan's  Lady  when  Johnson 
had  her,  and  for  the  service  received  two  pups, 
one  of  which  was  Uncle  B.  Gray  did  not  think 
well  enough  of  him  to  train  for  the  Derby,  but 
afterwards  entered  him  in  all-age  stakes,  and  you 
are  familiar  with  his  record.  Mr.  Devereux  told 
me  to  breed  Trap  Jr.  to  Marie's  Sport.  I  said, 
"  No,  sir,  I  have  just  as  good  a  dog,  namely, 
Harwick."  Trap  Jr.  had  by  Harwick  three  pup- 
pies. Two  I  sold.  The  third  was  Colonel  R. 
If  there  has  been  anything  out  of  higher  class  in 


192  The  Sporting  Dog 

the  last  few  years,  I  don't  know.  When  he  won, 
he  did  not  give  the  judges  any  chance  to  dispute, 
and  I  have  always  been  sorry  he  could  not  start 
in  the  championship  in  1900,  owing  to  having 
cut  his  leg  in  a  wire  fence.  I  gave  Mr.  Devereux 
a  half-interest  in  Uncle  B.  We  ran  him  in  the 
all-age  stakes  for  the  ensuing  two  years.  For 
this  reason  I  have  not  shot  over  him  as  much  as 
over  Colonel  R.  As  regards  Uncle  B.,  I  would 
say  that  he  makes  a  superior  shooting  dog  and  is 
very  tractable.  He  was  never  taught  to  retrieve, 
but  picked  it  up  naturally.  Owing  to  the  many 
years'  handling  in  field  trials,  he  is  given  to  go 
until  he  finds  birds,  and  the  first  season  I  hunted 
over  him  he  did  not  hunt  to  the  gun.  Afterwards 
he  worked  all  right,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  shoot 
over  him.  He  knows  where  to  look  for  birds,  and 
I  feel  sorry  for  a  man  who  cannot  make  a  bag 
over  him. 

Colonel  R.  went  so  fast  in  his  Derby  and  all- 
age  form  that  Gray  doubted  whether  he  could  be 
taught  to  restrain  his  speed  and  adapt  himself  to 
what  is  required  of  a  shooting  dog.  Gray  was 
wrong.  Colonel  R.  has  developed  into  the  best 
shooting  dog  I  ever  saw.  He  starts  off  at  speed, 
hunts  his  ground  out  in  a  sensible  way,  does  not 
come  in  to  you,  and  holds  up  as  well  as  any  dog  I 
have.  Last  winter  I  hunted  him  four  hours  a 
day  for  three  weeks,  and  I  could  not  have  asked 


LLEWELLIN.     LIGHT   TYPE 

Colonel  R.  By  Harwick-Trap,  Jr.  White-black-tan.  Count  Noble  and  Gladstone 
blood,  with  line  to  Ethan  Allen  native  setters.  One  of  the  most  brilliant  of  field- 
trial  performers.  Owned  by  Mr.  Harry  R.  Edwards.  Cleveland,  Ohio.  Representative 
of  the  rangy,  wiry  field-trial  Llewellins  which  Laverack  men  dislike,  but  which  field- 
trial  handlers  eagerly  seek  on  account  of  their  class  and  stamina. 


LLEWELLIN-LAVERACK.     LARGE   TYPE 

Topgallant.  By  Roy  of  London-Fanny.  Blue  belton.  Weight  over  sixty  pounds. 
Winner  of  the  North  American  Derby  (Ontario),  1900.  Llewellin  blood  through 
Champion  Paris  (five  crosses);  Laverack  through  Champion  Monk  of  Furness.  Fast 
and  steady  shooting  dog.  Owner,  Mr.  H.  Marshall  Graydon,  London,  Canada.  One  of 
the  big,  sound,  active,  intelligent  American  setters  which  refute  the  shallow  claim 
that  the  breed  has  deteriorated  since  the  early  days.  Americans  have  no  lack  of 
breeding  stock  from  which  to  get  setter  size  and  power,  though  the  general  taste, 
in  both  the  States  and  Canada,  favors  lighter  types. 


The  Dogs  they  Prefer  193 

a  dog  to  show  a  better  advantage.  His  nose  is 
the  best,  and  he  minds  to  perfection.  He  adapts 
himself  to  any  country  he  may  be  in. 

Some  two  or  three  years  ago  I  bought  Sport's 
Belle.  I  have  hunted  over  her  for  the  past  two 
years,  and  she,  like  my  other  trial  winners,  is  a 
most  excellent  dog  to  shoot  over. 

I  have  had  some  other  very  good  dogs,  but  to 
my  mind  they  are  not  to  be  compared  with  the 
dogs  I  have  mentioned.  In  other  words,  my  idea 
of  a  high-class  shooting  dog  is  a  dog  good  enough 
to  be  placed  in  the  Southern  trials.  Yet  I  do  not 
think  the  average  sportsman  could  take  a  dog 
home  after  a  field  trial  and  use  him  to  shoot  over 
without  some  further  training.  The  average 
sportsman  is  too  eager  for  game  to  give  a  dog  a 
fair  chance.  Mr.  Devereux  and  myself  have  gone 
South  for  eleven  years,  and  pretty  much  every 
year  Gray  has  been  with  us.  After  a  dog  was 
through  field  trial  work  we  would  go  out  with 
Gray,  and  Gray  would  handle  the  dogs,  and  in 
his  care  these  dogs  became  accustomed  to  shoot- 
ing and  to  the  general  mix-up  that  is  apt  to 
occur  when  birds  get  up  and  several  are  killed 
or  wounded.  Always  in  the  fall  in  Ohio-,  Mr. 
Devereux  and  myself  handle  the  dogs  alone.  In 
this  manner  they  have  been  accustomed  to  be 
shot  over,  and  have  made  practical  shooting  dogs. 

Harwick,    Uncle    B.,  Colonel    R.   and    Sport's 


194  The  Sporting  Dog 

Belle  are  all  dogs  that  mind  readily  and  do  not 
have  to  be  corrected  very  often.  The  very  best 
one  of  the  bunch  for  a  sportsman  to  take  out  to 
find  birds  and  get  them  is  Colonel  R.  There 
were  very  few  birds  last  winter.  If  we  had  had 
the  ordinary  dogs,  we  would  not  have  had  any 
shooting  at  all.  I  hunted  some  three  or  four 
weeks,  and  found  an  average  of  eight  to  nine 
bevies  a  day.  To  be  absolutely  honest,  I  don't 
think  the  dogs  flushed  three  bevies  of  birds  dur- 
ing these  three  or  four  weeks. 

I  think  that  when  people  rail  against  field  trial 
dogs  they  are  misinformed.  A  dog  to  get  a  place 
in  an  all-age  stake  must  necessarily  have  all  the 
attributes  that  go  to  make  a  high-class  dog. 
Generally  speaking,  he  must  be  under  good  con- 
trol. All  he  needs  to  make  him  a  first-class 
shooting  dog  is  experience  in  good  hands. 

DOGS  FOR  CANADA  SHOOTING 

By  Mr.  H.  Marshall  Graydon  of  London,  Ontario 

You  ask  me  for  expression  of  opinion  on  the 
kind  of  dogs  that  are  best  suited  for  field  work  on 
the  birds  usually  found  in  Western  Ontario,  and 
in  reply  I  would  say  that,  as  quail  are  much  the 
most  abundant  of  our  upland  game  birds,  a  wide- 
ranging  dog,  with  considerable  speed,  so  applied 
that  he  is  always  hunting  for  birds  and  at  the 


The  Dogs  tbey  Prefer  195 

same  time  is  hunting  them  not  for  his  own  amuse- 
ment but  to  the  gun,  is  the  most  effective.  Of 
course,  the  term  "  wide-ranging  "  is  a  comparative 
one  here,  because,  while  our  fields  are  quite  large, 
they  are  not  like  the  prairies  in  Manitoba,  where 
there  is  no  underbrush  and  a  dog  can  be  seen  at 
a  great  distance.  The  quail  section  of  this  coun- 
try is  comprised  of  wheat  stubble  and  corn-fields, 
with  considerable  bush  land  to  which  the  birds 
invariably  fly  on  being  flushed,  and  a  dog  that 
ranges  so  widely  as  to  be  constantly  out  of  sight 
and  out  of  hand  is  certainly  a  disadvantage, 
whereas  the  same  dog  might  be  quite  satisfactory 
on  prairie  land. 

We  also  have  considerable  partridge  shooting. 
My  opinion  about  a  partridge  dog  is  quite  con- 
trary to  the  popular  idea.  I  think  the  best  par- 
tridge dog  should  be  quite  fast  if  he  has  the 
requisite  nose  and  bird  sense  to  back  up  his  speed. 
I  have  usually  found  that  when  a  dog  is  recom- 
mended as  being  particularly  killing  on  partridge, 
he  is  generally  a  very  slow,  pottering  sort  of  fel- 
low. I  have  had  considerable  experience  in  par- 
tridge shooting  with  all  kinds  of  dogs,  and  I  think 
the  best  dog  I  ever  saw  was  quite  fast.  It  is 
astonishing,  considering  the  speed  with  which 
she  moved  in  cover,  how  few  birds  she  flushed. 
On  the  other  hand,  she  would  find  very  many 
more  than  any  slow  dog  I  have  ever  seen.     This 


196  The  Sporting  Dog 

was  a  very  large  setter  bitch  that  I  sold  to  Fred 
M.  Stevenson  of  Menominee,  Michigan,  and  if  this 
should  by  any  chance  catch  his  eye,  I  think  he 
will  approve  of  what  I  say.  Though  she  was  up 
in  years  when  I  sold  her  to  him,  she  was  still  a 
wonderful  good  dog  to  shoot  over. 

Woodcock  are  not  plentiful  enough  in  this 
country  for  there  to  be  any  real  cock  dogs. 
There  are  no  dogs  hereabouts  kept  for  exclusive 
use  on  woodcock,  their  experience  being  limited 
to  one  or  two  odd  birds  that  are  picked  up  in  a 
day's  shooting  on  quail  and  partridge. 

Much  the  same  might  be  said  of  snipe,  for,  ex- 
cept along  the  St.  Clair  flats,  there  are  very  few 
snipe  to  be  found  here. 

In  reference  to  the  manner  in  which  a  dog  should 
be  broken,  while  I  believe  that  the  more  a  dog 
is  taught  the  more  useful  he  will  be  as  a  shooting 
dog,  yet  overtraining  often  takes  place,  from  the 
natural  quality  of  the  dog  himself.  For  a  field 
trial  dog,  of  course,  I  do  not  advocate  such  a  high 
degree  of  training  as  for  a  shooting  dog.  I  think 
a  field  trial  dog  should  be  taught  to  be  only  obedi- 
ent to  whistle  and  motion  of  hand,  to  point  and 
back  stanchly,  and  let  his  other  natural  qualities  de- 
velop themselves.  He  will  be  a  more  brilliant  dog 
than  if  taught  to  be  too  dependent  upon  his  hand- 
lers. On  the  other  hand,  for  field  shooting,  in  my 
opinion,  a  dog  that  retrieves  is  much  more  killing 


The  Dogs  they  Prefer  197 

than  one  that  does  not.  All  things  being  equal, 
the  more  thorough  his  yard  training  the  more 
useful  he  will  be,  provided  he  is  given  enough 
experience  on  game  to  make  him  self-reliant  and 
clever  in  finding  and  locating  birds.  Nothing 
will  make  a  dog  so  clever  as  actual  experience 
on  game.  I  have  seen  several  instances  of  un- 
trained and  half-bred  mongrels  owned  in  the 
country  that,  from  constant  opportunities  to  hunt 
birds,  were  really  much  more  shrewd  in  finding, 
and  in  a  day's  hunt  would  probably  have  many 
more  points  to  their  credit  than  better  bred  and 
broken  dogs  which  city  sportsmen  might  hunt  side 
by  side  with  them.  Had  the  better  bred  or  better 
broken  dogs  the  same  opportunities,  I  think  they 
would  probably  be  much  superior.  As  dogs  can- 
not make  opportunities  for  themselves,  I  believe 
that  it  is  more  the  opportunities  that  make  the 
dog. 

HOW  MUCH  BREAKING? 

By  Mr.  Martin  Voorhees  of  St.  Louis 

You  ask  me  how  much  I  think  shooting  dogs 
should  be  broken  to  be  most  effective  and  agree- 
able ;  also  what  my  requirements  are  of  them. 

In  the  first  place  I  am,  as  might  be  expected, 
very  particular  about  my  dog  having  a  good  nose. 
Then  I  exact  stanchness  ;  naturally,  the  steadier  the 
dog  on  point,  when  he  is  also  brimful  of  nervous. 


198  The  Sporting  Dog 

excitable  energy,  the  better  I  like  him,  but  he  must 
have  the  latter  requisite.  A  dog  that  just  potters 
through  his  work  won't  answer  my  purpose.  I 
should  much  prefer  to  have  him  flush  occasionally. 
I  am  a  special  admirer  of  a  high  head,  style,  and 
speed.  There  is  nothing  I  dislike  more  than  to 
see  a  dog  get  his  nose  to  the  ground  and  "  wiggle 
and  fiddle  "  along  until  he  has  located  his  game. 

Ranging  ground  with  judgment  probably  wins 
me  as  quickly  as  anything  else.  I  have  known 
dogs  which  were  always  within  sight  in  close, 
thick  cover,  working  with  energy  and  dash,  but 
the  moment  I  would  go  to  the  open  were  off  at 
lightning  speed,  with  no  field  too  large  for  them. 
This  I  call  hunting  to  the  gun  ;  and  must  acknowl- 
edge that  I  am  a  crank  on  the  subject. 

As  to  training,  I  want  a  dog  absolutely  steady 
to  shot  and  wing,  backing  at  sight ;  and  the 
promptness  of  his  "  bidability  "  appeals  to  me.  I 
do  not  require  retrieving,  but,  of  course,  much 
prefer  it  if  it  does  not  interfere  with  other  more 
important  qualities. 

This  amount  of  breaking  is  all  I  wish,  and,  in 
my  judgment,  all  that  a  dog  can  stand  and  still 
retain  those  high  natural  qualities  which  I  feel  to 
be  so  necessary. 

It  is  my  opinion  that  I  have  shot  over  as  many 
overtrained  dogs  as  dogs  lacking  education. 

Blood  lines  and  field  superiority  are  far  ahead 


The  Dogs  tbey  Prefer  199 

of  size  and  appearance  to  me.  Of  course  I 
wouldn't  care  to  be  on  record  as  saying  that  I  do 
not  admire  the  long  square-muzzled,  gazelle-eyed, 
silky-haired  beauties,  but  I  wouldn't  feed  the 
handsomest  that  ever  bustled  on  this  fitful  earth 
that  wasn't  a  worker  in  the  field. 

LATER  LLEWELLINS  COMPARED  WITH  GLADSTONE 

By  Mr.  P.  H.  Bryson  of  Memphis 

Having  seen  the  first  field  trial  ever  held  in  the 
United  States  and  next  to  the  last  (at  Grand 
Junction,  January  20,  1903),  and  most  of  those 
held  at  intervening  dates,  owning  no  dogs  now, 
and  not  being  interested  in  any  that  are  bred, 
what  I  say  about  English  setters  is  an  unbiassed 
opinion.  This  opinion  has  been  formed  after 
many  years  attending  bench  shows  and  field  trials 
and  breeding  English  setters. 

Starting  with  my  ownership  of  Gladstone,  con- 
ceded to  be  superlative  by  almost  all  those  who 
saw  him,  and  taking  him  as  my  standard  to  judge 
those  that  followed  him,  I  would  state  that  from  a 
field  trial  standpoint,  in  short  heats  of  one  to  two 
hours,  I  have  seen  dogs  I  thought  his  equals. 
These  dogs  were  used  only  as  field  trial  dogs,  run 
in  short  heats,  and  always  kept  on  edge  for  ex- 
hibition purposes.  Gladstone  was  used  during 
the  shooting  season  on  all  day  or  longer  hunts, 


200  The  Sporting  Dog 

and  as  an  all-round  shooting  dog  on  quail,  snipe, 
woodcock,  and  prairie  chickens.  While  he  had 
more  experience  on  quail,  I  never  shot  a  gun  over 
a  better  snipe  dog.  The  woodcock  shooting  over 
him  was  in  February  as  they  came  along  on  their 
northward  flight;  these  migrants  being  met  with 
in  shooting  quail  in  that  month.  His  chicken  ex- 
perience was  not  so  great  as  that  of  dogs  kept  in 
a  chicken  country ;  still,  he  was  as  good  as  one 
would  wish  in  that  line.  He  possessed  nose, 
natural  sense,  style,  speed,  and  endurance ;  more 
of  the  last  quality  than  any  dog  I  ever  saw  hunt  a 
whole  day.  He  was  used  as  a  retriever  for  all 
kinds  of  game  and  did  his  work  well. 

Gladstone's  Boy  had  all  the  qualities  of  his 
famous  sire,  except  that  he  did  not  have  quite  as 
much  speed  and  style.  Had  he  been  kept  and 
used  as  a  field  trial  dog,  instead  of  a  shooting  dog 
to  shoot  over  in  all  kinds  of  weather  and  all  day 
for  a  week  at  a  time,  he  would  have  been  invin- 
cible in  that  role.  He  did  not  have  the  variety 
of  style  of  his  sire.  His  points  were  stylish, 
but  like  one  another.  He  came  the  nearest  of 
quitting  even  with  Gladstone  in  an  all-day  hunt 
among  all  the  dogs  I  ever  saw  go  in  the  field  with 
the  old  fellow,  and  they  met  often  in  a  friendly  all- 
day  hunt. 

Gath  was  the  best  field  trial  dog  in  my  opinion 
that  ever   ran    in    the    United  States.     He    was 


The  Dogs  they  Prefer  loi 

poorly  raised  and  did  not  have  the  nourishment 
he  needed  when  growing.  Hence  he  had  not  the 
strength  of  a  dog  better  treated  when  a  puppy. 
Then  he  came  in  contact  with  Sue,  one  of  the 
best  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  cunning  dogs  on 
birds  that  ever  entered  a  field.  Her  experience 
and  cunning,  she  having  more  of  both  when  Gath 
was  hunted  with  her,  caused  Gath  to  run  "  under 
a  hack "  when  he  met  her  and  others  in  Mr. 
Short's  hands,  who  handled  Gath  in  his  second 
year.  I  saw  Gath  and  Gladstone  in  all-day  hunts, 
and  Gladstone  never  turned  a  trick  but  Gath  was 
ready  with  the  next. 

Roderigo  I  regarded  as  rating  close  up  to  Gath 
as  a  field  trial  dog.  Like  most  of  the  sons  of 
Count  Noble,  he  would  false  point  considerably 
when  he  was  tired.  He  had  the  dash  and  vim  of 
Gladstone  on  game.  Gath,  on  the  other  hand, 
had  the  speed  and  range  of  any  dog,  and  worked 
like  a  well-oiled  piece  of  machinery;  and  in  his 
maturity  would  go  away  from  Sue  and  dogs  that 
had  met  him  as  an  inexperienced  puppy.  Nothing 
seemed  to  rufifle  him  then,  and  he  always  carried 
his  head  to  work  with  his  heels.  Unlike  Sue,  he 
never  used  his  brains  to  rob  an  opponent  of  any 
honest  work,  but  he  needed  no  coaching  to  do  his 
work  well.  His  dying  young  was  a  great  loss  to 
setter  breeders. 

Gath's  Mark  was  another  great  dog  showing 


202  The  Sporting  Dog 

Gladstone's  qualities.  Had  he  fallen  into  hands 
that  would  have  used  him  for  field  trial  purposes, 
he  would  have  been  among  the  crowned  kings  of 
the  setter  world.  His  owner  used  him  for  every 
conceivable  purpose,  from  chasing  pigs  to  hunting 
rabbits  with  hounds.  With  all  these  drawbacks, 
he  was  a  hard  dog  to  beat  at  the  trials.  He  had 
speed,  range,  nose,  and  bird  sense,  and  always  used 
the  latter. 

Rodfield  resembled  Gladstone  in  appearance 
more  than  any  dog  I  ever  saw.  Indeed,  he  was 
like  a  twin  brother  in  appearance.  His  record  as 
a  field  trial  dog  is  too  well  known  to  mention 
here.  When  I  saw  him  at  the  St.  Louis  show,  I 
advised  my  friends  to  breed  to  him. 

Antonio  was  very  much  like  Gladstone  in 
appearance  and  manner  of  hunting  his  ground. 
He  did  not  put  the  electricity  into  his  hunt  like 
Gladstone  and  Roderigo,  but,  to  use  a  street  ex- 
pression, he  "  got  there  all  the  same."  He  was  a 
great  bird  finder  and  no  hot  corner  in  a  field  trial 
ruffled  him  in  the  least.  His  style  was  much  like 
Gath's  in  handling  game.  No  dog  he  ever  met 
quit  with  a  better  score  than  he  made  on  game. 
He  had  bird  sense,  speed,  nose,  endurance,  and 
style ;  though,  as  stated,  he  was  not  the  equal  of 
Gladstone  or  Roderigo.  Like  Gladstone,  Gath, 
and  Roderigo,  he  had  great  stride,  and  ran  with 
ease,  showing  no  friction  when  in  motion.     He 


The  Dogs  they  Prefer  203 

got  over  the  ground  much  faster  than  he  seemed 
to  do.  This  was  apparent  when  a  quick,  choppy- 
going  dog  met  him  in  the  same  heat. 

Mohawk,  one  of  the  latest  as  well  as  the  best 
dogs  of  to-day,  is  of  different  type  from  any  of 
those  I  have  mentioned.  He  is  handsome,  runs 
with  ease,  and  is  fast.  He  approaches  his  game 
differently.  His  is  more  of  the  feline  way  of 
stealthiness.  He  rather  creeps  into  his  points 
with  little  tail  action  until  he  smells  game. 
Those  dogs  I  first  named  made  most  of  their  point 
work  on  the  run,  jumping  into  their  points  suddenly 
and  positively. 


CHAPTER   XV 

ELCHO    AND    FAUST 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Turner  of  St.  Louis  deserves 
a  special  chapter,  even  if  it  must  be  a  short  one,  in 
any  history  of  American  sporting  dogs.  He  was 
the  force  and  substance  of  the  old  St.  Louis 
Kennel  Club ;  was,  personally,  the  importer  and 
owner  of  the  pointers,  Faust,  Keswick,  and  Spin- 
away,  and  the  Irish  setters,  Elcho  and  Loo  H; 
and  was  the  breeder  of  the  great  Irish  setter 
bench  winner,  Berkeley.  In  the  accurate  sense 
of  the  word  he  may  be  also  called  the  breeder  of 
Joe  Jr.,  the  conqueror  of  Gladstone.  Mr.  Turner 
has  not  shot  a  gun  for  twenty  years  and  has  fallen 
out  of  the  knowledge  of  the  present  generation 
of  sportsmen.  In  fact,  he  was  never  much  known 
in  public  prints. 

His  importation  of  Elcho  is  an  interesting 
little  story  of  itself.  Being  a  young  man  of  large 
inherited  wealth  and  a  keen  sportsman,  he  was 
anxious  to  get  something  which  might  be  classed 
as  the  best.  An  Irishman  in  St.  Louis  had  mar- 
ried a  young  girl  who  had  been  the  maid  of  Mr. 
Turner's  mother.     Like  most  Irishmen,  he  was  a 

204 


Elcbo  and  Faust  205 

bit  of  a  dog  man,  and  Mr.  Turner  asked  him  if 
he  knew  in  Ireland  anybody  who  could  select 
the  best  Irish  setter  on  that  side.  The  Irishman 
promptly  gave  the  name  of  Mr.  Cooper  of  Cooper 
Hill,  Limerick,  Ireland.  Correspondence  with 
Mr.  Cooper  followed.  A  bench  show  was  on 
hand  at  Dublin,  and  to  that  show  Mr.  Oppen- 
heimer,  then  living  in  Russia,  had  sent  the  young 
dog,  Elcho.  Mr.  Cooper  purchased  Elcho  and 
the  Irish  setter  bitch.  Loo  II,  for  Mr.  Turner,  and 
sent  them  over.  Elcho  was  a  beautiful  dog  of 
rich  color  and  by  far  the  best  Irish  setter  from  a 
bench-show  standpoint  that  had  been  seen  in 
America.  His  field  qualities,  however,  were  not 
first-class,  and  Mr.  Turner  sold  him  to  Dr.  Jarvis 
of  Vermont,  after  getting  from  his  loins  the  great 
bench-show  dog,  Berkeley,  which  Mr.  Turner  sold 
for  $1000  to  Mr.  A.  H.  Moore  of  Philadelphia. 
Berkeley  was  a  good  dog  in  the  field,  but  lacked 
style  on  point,  nearly  always  dropping.  A  paint- 
ing of  Berkeley,  by  Tracy,  still  adorns  the  breeder's 
library. 

Mr.  Turner  imported  Erin  and  Thor  from 
Ireland.  Erin  was  a  dog  of  high  field  quality, 
but  of  very  bad  temper.  On  one  occasion  he 
attacked  Mr.  C.  B.  Whitford,  who  was  his  trainer, 
and  Mr.  Whitford  was  compelled  to  knock  him 
down  with  a  piece  of  fence  rail.  Mr.  Turner 
thinks  that  Erin  was  never  quite  the  same  dog 


2o6  The  Sporting  Dog 

afterward,  though  he  found  no  fault  with  Mr.Whit- 
ford,  who  had  been  compelled  to  defend  himself. 

Thor  Mr.  Turner  regards  as  beyond  compari- 
son the  best  field  dog  among  the  many  Irish  of 
which  he  had  knowledge.  This  dog  could  not 
win  on  the  bench,  as  he  had,  like  many  Irish  set- 
ters of  that  time,  a  white  line  down  his  face  and 
considerable  white  on  his  breast  and  feet  As  a 
field  dog  Thor  was  fully  able  to  compete  with  the 
great  pointers  which  Mr.  Turner  had  by  that  time 
brought  over.  He  was  sold  to  General  Shattuc 
of  Cincinnati. 

Before  his  parting  with  Elcho,  the  Campbells 
of  Tennessee,  who  were  related  to  Mr.  Turner  by 
marriage,  got  from  him  permission  to  breed  their 
English  setter.  Buck  Jr.  When  Buck  Jr.  arrived, 
Mr.  Turner  started  out  to  his  kennel  with  her  in 
a  buggy.  On  the  way  she  escaped  and  came 
near  having  an  affaire  cT amour  with  a  shaggy 
Newfoundland.  Thus  Joe  Jr.  barely  missed  not 
being  born,  or  being  born  half  Newfoundland. 

Mr.  Turner  entered  into  correspondence  with 
the  famous  pointer  breeder  of  England,  Pilking- 
ton,  and  imported  Faust,  then  regarded  as  the 
greatest  pointer  in  that  country.  Faust  was  an 
extremely  intelligent  dog,  strong  in  the  body,  but 
rather  short-legged  as  compared  with  his  kennel 
companion.  Champion  Bow,  which  was  imported 
by  other  members  of  the  St.  Louis   Kennel  Club. 


Elcbo  and  Faust  207 

On  account  of  the  dog's  intelligence  and  attrac- 
tiveness, Mr.  Turner  kept  Faust  at  his  own  home 
a  great  deal  of  the  time. 

A  year  or  two  later  Colonel  Hughes  of  St. 
Louis,  now  of  Denver,  developed  an  interest  in 
pointers,  and  in  his  behalf  Mr.  Turner  sent  over 
to  Pilkington  for  a  brace  of  dogs.  The  latter 
quoted  to  him  Meteor  and  Maxim  at  $700  for 
the  brace,  saying  to  Mr.  Turner  that  Meteor  was 
the  best  young  dog  in  England,  but  that,  being 
a  sheep-killer,  and  for  no  other  reason,  the  dog 
could  be  spared  for  America.  Mr.  Turner  ordered 
the  brace  for  Colonel  Hughes,  but  they  arrived 
in  bad  condition  from  their  voyage,  and  Colonel 
Hughes  declined  to  accept  them.  A  few  days 
later  he  changed  his  mind,  and  the  dogs  became 
his  property.  Meteor  never  developed,  Mr.  Turner 
says,  any  sheep-killing  tendencies  on  this  side. 
He  was  regarded  as  a  small  dog  for  those  times, 
though  he  weighed  several  pounds  above  the 
light-weight  limit  of  fifty-five  pounds.  If  Jingo's 
Light,  one  of  the  present  fashions  in  the  United 
States,  had  come  along  at  that  period,  he  would 
probably  have  been  shot  for  being  dwarfish.  He 
weighs  only  forty-eight  pounds.  Though  smaller 
than  Faust  and  Bow,  Meteor  developed  such  field 
quality  that  his  owner  and  friends  were  fully  sat- 
isfied, and  he  became  one  of  the  pillars  of  pointer 
breeding  in  this  country. 


2o8  The  Sporting  Dog 

These  dogs,  imported  by  Mr.  Turner  and  his 
St.  Louis  friends,  mark  an  era  in  training.  Before 
that  time,  at  least  in  the  central  West,  no  such 
finish  had  ever  been  given  to  the  education  of  field 
dogs.  Faust,  Bow,  Meteor,  and  Maxim  were  all 
broken  almost  perfectly  by  their  English  handlers. 
They  would  stay  at  heel  quietly  until  each  was 
ordered  out  by  name.  At  the  sound  of  the 
whistle  they  would  stop  as  if  shot,  to  be  di- 
rected by  the  hand  to  right  or  left.  Their  retriev- 
ing was  faultless.  It  was  their  perfection  of 
training  which  made  them  a  sensation  in  and 
about  St.  Louis,  as  much  as  their  speed  and 
bird  work.  At  least  two  American  trainers  got 
their  inspiration  and  first  reputation  from  these 
dogs. 

Mr.  Turner's  name  also  has  an  important  rela- 
tion to  American  beagles.  He  organized  a  pack 
of  beagles,  and  among  others  owned  Warrior, 
which  was  the  sire  of  Dorsey's  Champion  Lee; 
and  Lee  was  the  greatest  beagle  of  his  time.  Mr. 
Turner  describes  Warrior  as  a  good  rabbit  dog, 
but  not  impressive  in  looks.  He  was  tan-and- 
white,  with  short  ears,  rather  a  poor  head,  and 
high  on  the  leg. 

Personally  interesting  among  Mr.  Turner's  ser- 
vices to  the  field  dog  fancy  was  his  discovery  of 
Mr.  C.  B.  Whitford.  Mr.  Whitford  was  an  edu- 
cated and  well-bred  young  New  Englander.     Mr. 


Elcho  and  Faust  209 

Turner  brought  him  out  into  the  West  and 
made  him  kennel  manager.  Mr.  Whitford  broke 
Berkeley  and  other  young  dogs,  and  handled  the 
older  ones  in  the  field. 

Mr.  Turner  is  now  a  connoisseur  in  porcelains, 
wines,  and  harness  horses,  and  the  proud  grand- 
father of  three  handsome  children.  He  still 
retains,  however,  some  of  the  fire  of  his  old  inter- 
est in  bird  dogs,  and  his  strong  memory  enables 
him  to  recall  most  agreeably  the  incidents  of 
the  '70's. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

CLASS 

Amateurs  whose  experience  in  sporting  dogs 
is  just  beginning  are  likely  to  be  puzzled  by  the 
constant  use  of  the  word  "  class  "  in  public  prints 
and  in  the  private  discussions  of  the  sophisticated. 

In  its  application  to  bench-show  exhibits  the 
word  is  not  so  difficult  to  understand.  Those 
who  so  use  it  generally  mean  one  of  two  things, 
either  that  the  specimen  under  consideration  has 
a  general  distinction  of  appearance  which  is 
better  expressed  by  the  word  "  quality,"  or  that 
the  typical  points  regarded  as  essential  by  the 
specialists  are  present  to  an  extent  which  over- 
shadows minor  defects.  For  example,  in  the  case 
of  a  pointer,  a  general  smoothness  of  finish  and 
symmetry  of  parts  might  produce  an  impression 
of  class,  though  small  defects  of  detail  would  im- 
press one  who  was  following  the  rules  as  he  had 
read  them  in  the  books.  In  setters  I  might  cite 
the  example  of  a  noted  winner,  the  orange  belton, 
Queen's  Place  Pride.  This  Laverack  had  un- 
doubted class.  Her  coat,  color,  and  finish  were 
beautiful,  and    her  head  and  expression  remark- 

2IO 


Class  111 

ably  fine.  Her  class  was  apparent  to  the  most 
negligent  observer,  but  she  had  important  defects 
of  structure — being  decidedly  out  at  elbows  and 
over  long  and  flat  in  body.  It  was  her  superb 
class  which  enabled  her  to  defeat  a  great  many 
setters  which,  according  to  a  tape-line  scoring, 
might  have  outpointed  her. 

But  it  is  in  comparing  the  work  of  dogs  in  the 
field  that  the  word  is  used  in  so  many  senses 
which  puzzle  the  amateur.  Some  men  speak 
of  class  when  they  have  in  mind  nothing  but 
speed  and  range.  Those,  however,  who  are  care- 
ful about  meanings  employ  the  term  to  desig- 
nate a  high  degree  of  ability  in  all  the  essentials 
of  performance.  That  is  the  only  accurate 
application. 

Coming  to  definitions,  class  means  the  ability 
to  do  at  high  speed  and  with  rapid  accuracy  what 
the  mediocre  can  do  only  with  deliberation,  slowly, 
and  under  favorable  circumstances.  In  addition 
to  this  definition  a  strict  judge  might  add  that 
class  includes  the  doing  naturally  and  with  little 
practice  what  an  ordinary  specimen  can  do  only 
as  a  result  of  severe  education. 

Just  why  class  in  the  field  is  attractive  to  most 
men  and  especially  to  Americans  is  something 
which  is  explained  in  the  remark  of  the  old  fox- 
hunter,  who  said,  "  I  don't  keer  much  for  these 
extry  fast  hounds,  but  I  always  feel  a  little  better 


212  The  Sporting  Dog 

when  old  Brag  is  out  in  front."  Hardly  one  man 
in  four  will  say,  theoretically,  that  he  admires  par- 
ticularly fast  dogs ;  but  three  out  of  four  will  look 
for  the  fastest  dog  they  can  find  when  they  are 
either  buying  outside  or  selecting  one  of  their 
own  breeding  for  personal  use.  This  means 
merely  that  the  American  does  not  propose  to 
see  some  other  man's  dogs  taking  the  lead  from 
his  in  a  fox-hunt  or  working  on  the  outside  in  a 
quail  expedition. 

Class  is  the  same  attribute  in  all  competitions, 
whether  of  men  or  animals.  It  is  of  such  basic 
importance  in  the  search  for  truth  that  anything 
is  worth  while  which  illuminates  or  illustrates. 

Begin  with  man.  To  bring  out  a  plain  illustra- 
tion let  me  say  that,  allowing  for  the  obvious  pos- 
sibility of  a  mistake,  the  finest  mind  which  I  ever 
had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  at  work  was  that  of  the 
late  Jay  Gould.  I  have  never  found  reason  for 
modifying  the  opinion,  though  I  have  been  at 
close  quarters  with  two  Presidents  of  the  United 
States,  several  convention  candidates  for  that 
high  honor  and  a  number  of  possibilities,  twenty 
or  thirty  college  presidents,  and  not  a  few  national 
authorities  on  various  subjects,  not  to  mention  a 
hundred  or  so  of  successful  authors.  I  saw  Mr. 
Gould  but  once,  and  then  for  probably  not  more 
than  thirty  minutes.  My  professional  duties^placed 
me  where  I  listened  to  his  view  of  a  question  then 


Class  213 

extensively  interesting  the  West,  involving  many 
side  topics  of  commerce,  transportation,  and  poli- 
tics. To  this  day  the  beauty  —  I  use  the  word 
with  matured  appreciation  —  of  that  wonderful 
mental  machine  in  action  comes  vividly  to  my 
memory.  Without  apparent  effort,  in  a  low  voice, 
and  not  once  "false  pointing,"  he  described,  meas- 
ured, compared,  selected,  rejected,  and  welded; 
bringing  into  view,  not  only  the  general  facts 
and  arguments  ordinarily  connected  with  the 
subject,  but  a  vast  array  of  material  which  indi- 
rectly had  to  do  with  its  settlement;  touching 
upon  statutes,  human  enthusiasms  and  prejudices, 
necessities  and  rules  of  commercial  development, 
transportation,  building  of  cities,  and  the  momen- 
tums  and  checks  which  in  alternate  periods  stimu- 
late or  retard  investment.  His  mental  process  was 
extremely  rapid  but  frictionless  and  conducted  with 
unswerving  precision.  A  clarification  which  the 
average  educated  man  would  painfully  and,  in  all 
likelihood,  confusedly  reach  after  a  couple  of  days' 
study  he  seemed  able  to  attain  in  ten  minutes  by 
that  insight  which  with  direct  celerity  seizes  and 
measures  the  essential. 

You  cannot  call  such  mental  action  hasty  or 
hurried.  It  is  well  within  itself,  and  is  as  reliably 
accurate  as  the  slowest  operation  of  a  lesser  mind. 
In  other  words,  it  is  class. 

Jacob  Schaefer  is  an  example  of  class  among 


214  The  Sporting  Dog 

billiard  players.  I  never  saw  Schaefer  in  a  great 
match,  but  I  have  seen  him  give  big  odds  to  a 
good  amateur.  He  played  with  almost  unnatural 
rapidity.  The  stroke  came  as  quickly  as  he  could 
get  the  cue  in  position ;  yet  it  would  be  foolish- 
ness to  suppose  that  his  play  lacked  any  accuracy, 
or  that  he  was  at  all  in  doubt  as  to  the  result  of 
each  calculation. 

Cesar  Thomson  will  transcribe  a  set  of  awkward 
violin  runs  into  octaves  and  tenths  and  play  them 
with  added  velocity.  Yet,  his  pupils  tell  me,  he 
practises  less  than  any  other  great  fiddler. 

Put  a  first-rate  professional  baseball  player  on 
the  bases.  Some  might  suppose  that  his  apparent 
willingness  to  take  chances  was  only  blind  and 
reckless  daring,  when,  in  fact,  his  perception  of 
where  he  is  coming  out  is  much  more  definite, 
and  his  adjustment  of  capacity  to  the  task  much 
more  scientific  than  can  be  predicated  of  the 
cautious  and  hesitating  player  in  the  tenth-rate 
team. 

These  illustrations  make  plain,  at  least  to  me, 
what  is  meant  by  class  when  the  term  is  intelli- 
gently used.  Now  see  how  it  works  in  our  study 
of  dogs.  It  is  often  true  that  the  foxhound  which 
habitually  goes  out  in  front  does  not  do  it  because 
he  possesses  the  higher  order  of  mere  speed. 
The  fact  is  more  likely  to  be  that  he  can  use  his 
fox  sense  and  can  rely  upon  his  nose  when  going 


Class  2 1 5 

at  a  great  pace.  While  the  dog  of  lower  grade 
may  be  able  to  run  faster,  simply  as  a  matter  of 
running,  he  cannot  carry  his  head  and  nose  with 
him  when  under  severe  exertion.  I  have  seen 
greyhounds  of  great  speed  which  did  not  dare 
extend  themselves,  because  they  had  discovered 
that  they  could  not  score  except  at  a  moderate 
gait.  On  the  other  hand,  a  dog  like  Diana  or 
her  sister  Melita  could  "  sit  down  "  behind  a  jack- 
rabbit  and  score  just  as  fast  as  he  could  make 
moves  —  let  him  do  his  utmost. 

One  day,  after  the  setter.  Sport's  Boy,  had  given 
a  not  very  good  account  of  himself  in  a  public 
trial,  —  a  case  of  "  rabbit  rattles,"  —  I  went  out 
into  the  country  with  Mr.  Askins,  his  trainer, 
to  give  the  string  of  dogs  some  work.  Sport's 
Boy  and  another  dog  were  put  down  in  a  large 
field.  A  ravine,  probably  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
long,  ran  through  the  centre  of  the  field.  The 
other  dog,  a  very  good  animal,  began  ranging 
across  the  field.  Boy  started  straight  for  the 
ravine,  running  the  full  length  of  it  at  lightning 
speed  and  coming  down  the  other  side.  When 
halfway  down  he  stopped  as  if  changed  to  stone, 
never  slackening  his  speed  until  he  jumped  into 
the  point.  He  hesitated  two  or  three  seconds, 
moved  his  tail  slightly,  as  a  dog  usually  expresses 
doubt,  and  turned  around  sharply  to  the  right. 
Without  lowering  his  head  or  showing  the  slight- 


21 6  The  Sporting  Dog 

est  indecision  after  the  first  moment  of  doubt, 
he  marched  thirty  or  forty  feet  and  stiffened  to 
a  stanch  point  on  a  large  bevy  of  birds.  Some- 
body will  say  that  any  dog  would  do  that.  I  say 
that  any  dog  which  did  it  would  be  a  high-class 
dog.  In  the  first  place,  there  was  the  speed  at 
which  the  whole  performance  was  acted ;  in  the 
second  place,  there  was  the  instinct  by  which  he 
chose  the  ravine  as  the  place  most  likely  to  harbor 
birds ;  in  the  third  place,  there  was  the  bird  sense 
with  which  he  skirted  the  ravine  instead  of  wast- 
ing time  in  searching  out  particular  spots ;  in  the 
fourth  place,  was  the  instantaneousness  with  which 
his  nose  told  him  of  the  scent  of  birds  ;  in  the 
fifth  place,  was  the  quickness  with  which  he  rec- 
ognized that  he  had  felt  only  the  scent  of  where 
birds  had  been ;  and,  in  the  sixth  place,  was  the 
positiveness  with  which  he  went  straight  on  body 
scent  to  where  the  birds  were.  The  other  dog 
was  a  much  more  than  ordinary  animal  and  a  few 
minutes  later  might  have  done  exactly  what  Boy 
did.  But  the  fact  remains  that  he  did  not  do 
it,  and  that  the  coming  champion,  with  equal 
chances,  beat  him  in  the  whole  series  of  acts  lead- 
ing to  the  location  of  a  bevy. 

One  of  the  best  exhibitions  of  class  shining 
through  disadvantages  was  that  of  the  Llewellin 
setter,  Joe  Gumming,  when  he  won  his  champion- 
ship.    This  performance  brings  up  a  story  which 


Class  a  17 

I  have  never  seen  in  print.  In  the  final  heat  of 
this  championship  stake  Joe  Gumming  was  to 
run  for  first  with  Dave  Earl.  Joe  had  severely 
injured  his  foot,  and  Mr.  Titus,  his  owner  and 
handler,  who  was  always  tender-hearted  with  his 
dogs,  decided  to  draw  him.  The  judges,  however, 
were  anxious  to  have  the  dog  finish  the  competi- 
tion, and  Mr.  Titus's  friends  persuaded  him  to  let 
Joe  go  on  as  long  as  there  was  a  fighting  chance. 
The  development  showed  how  closely  a  dog  can 
come  to  winning  a  championship  without  reach- 
ing the  honor.  This  was  the  fortune  of  Dave 
Earl.  When  they  were  put  down  Joe  went  lame 
for  a  few  minutes,  but  soon  warmed  up,  forgot  his 
foot,  and  began  to  show  nearly  his  fastest  and  best 
form.  At  that,  handicapped  as  Joe  was,  Dave 
Earl  had  a  shade  the  best  of  the  heat  and  seemed 
likely  to  win  the  championship.  It  was  a  long 
three  hours  for  an  injured  dog  which  was  com- 
pelled to  show  championship  speed  and  bird 
work.  Toward  the  end  of  the  heat  Dave  Earl 
ranged  up  to  a  clump  of  bushes,  nosed  at  it  an 
instant,  and  passed  on,  A  few  minutes  later  Joe 
Gumming  swung  over  to  the  same  clump  of 
bushes,  hesitated,  dashed  around  to  the  leeward, 
and  made  a  stanch  point  on  a  bevy.  Of  course, 
nothing  is  a  more  decisive  incident  in  a  field  trial 
than  when  one  dog  misses  a  find  and  the  other, 
with   precisely  the   same  opportunities,  makes  a 


21 8  The  Sporting  Dog 

location.  Consequently,  as  the  dogs  were  not  far 
apart  in  other  respects,  the  decision  and  the 
championship  went  to  Joe  Gumming. 

King  Cyrano,  the  orange-and-white  son  of 
Jingo,  is  a  pointer  which  always  impressed  me 
particularly  with  his  class,  for  the  reason  that, 
even  when  he  first  appeared  in  his  Derby  year,  he 
was  what  a  field  trial  man  would  call  badly  over- 
trained. His  trainer,  Mr.  Updike,  had  been  pre- 
viously giving  his  entire  attention  to  shooting 
dogs  and  was  probably  the  most  finished  trainer 
in  the  West.  All  of  his  dogs  at  that  time  obeyed 
the  slightest  order  and  retrieved  with  perfect 
manners.  A  dog  which,  after  such  an  elaborate 
course  of  training  in  his  youth,  could  begin  by 
winning  a  Derby  and  afterward  compete  success- 
fully with  the  best  dogs  in  his  all-age  form  must 
have  had  inherent  class  of  the  highest  order.  In 
his  second  season  I  saw  him  put  down  with  a 
fast  pointer,  Spring  Dot,  owned  by  Mr.  Turner  of 
Chicago.  Cyrano  is  not  a  large  dog,  in  fact 
barely  up  to  the  average  size.  That  day  he 
was  going  so  high  that  he  looked  as  big  as  a  St. 
Bernard.  The  two  pointers  dashed  into  a  large 
weed  field  where  the  growth  was  scanty  except  in 
one  corner.  Notwithstanding  the  speed  of  his 
competitor,  Cyrano  swung  round  the  field  on  the 
outside  and  then  made  straight  for  the  heavier 
growth  in  the  corner.     There  he  jumped  into  a 


Class  219 

sharp  point  on  a  bevy.  A  few  minutes  later  he 
took  a  course  ahnost  touching  the  fence,  on  the 
other  side  of  which  was  a  corn-field.  He  jumped 
again  into  a  quick  point,  evidently  locating  the 
birds  on  the  other  side  of  the  fence.  His  handler 
rushed  up  and  threw  him  over  the  fence.  The 
birds  proved  to  be  running.  He  followed  them 
accurately  and  cautiously,  finally  bringing  them 
to  a  flush  to  order  two  hundred  yards  from  where 
they  were  first  located.  The  class  of  the  perform- 
ance appears  in  the  fact  that  the  dog  evidently 
knew  exactly  what  he  was  about  at  all  times  and 
managed  his  actions  to  suit  the  conditions.  High 
speed  did  not  interfere  with  the  accuracy  of  his 
work. 

In  the  same  trial  the  Derby  dogs,  Marse  Ben 
and  Prince  Rodney,  gave  an  attractive  exhibition 
of  class.  Both  of  these  dogs  subsequently  dis- 
tinguished themselves  as  worthy  of  the  highest 
consideration.  In  their  Derby  year  each  had  a 
fine  turn  of  speed,  Rodney  the  faster.  As  they 
looked  very  much  alike,  they  made  an  attractive 
race.  Just  after  the  start  Marse  Ben  swung 
around  to  the  right  into  a  corn-field.  I  was  rid- 
ing on  the  right  and  the  other  judges  followed 
Rodney,  leaving  me  to  look  after  Ben.  It  was 
the  year  of  the  great  drouth  and  the  field,  except 
for  the  standing  corn,  was  almost  as  bare  as  a 
floor.     I  heard  a  shout  a  little  behind  me  to  the 


220  The  Spoding  Dog 

right,  which  evidently  meant  that  some  one  saw 
the  dog  in  that  direction.  I  turned  my  horse 
and  rode  into  the  corn.  Gilchrist,  Ben's  handler, 
came  running  along  to  take  care  of  his  dog. 
While  going  rapidly  through  the  corn,  Ben 
stopped  on  a  stylish  point.  Two  birds  got  up. 
In  puppy  fashion  he  made  a  jump  or  two  in 
their  direction,  but  quickly  changed  his  mind 
and  stopped  on  another  stiff  point.  The  rest  of 
the  birds  soon  after  flushed  in  front  of  him. 
Some  outsiders  thought  that  Ben  had  flushed 
the  first  two  birds  either  wilfully  or  from  an  error 
in  judgment  in  getting  too  close  to  them.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  the  birds  flushed  wild  on  account 
of  the  absence  of  cover.  The  dog  really  made 
a  perfect  exhibition.  Fifteen  minutes  afterward 
Marse  Ben  did  almost  identically  the  same  thing 
in  another  patch  of  corn.  The  birds  flushed 
ahead  of  him,  but  after  he  had  established  his 
point.  Just  after  the  judges  ordered  the  dogs 
up,  Rodney  imitated  the  performance,  jumping 
quickly  into  a  stanch  point  on  a  bevy  in  a  corn- 
field almost  as  bare  of  under  cover  as  if  it  had 
been  ploughed.  One  would  have  to  see  the  pace 
at  which  these  dogs  were  going  and  the  bareness 
of  the  corn-fields  to  appreciate  the  keen  noses  and 
cleverness  with  which  they  established  point  on 
body  scent. 

If  there  be  an  absolute  best,  field  trial  history 


Class  221 

would  probably  give  the  premium  to  the  per- 
formance of  Mr.  Herman  Duryea's  setter,  Sioux, 
in  her  second  championship  winning.  There  was 
no  competition,  as  all  the  other  dogs  had  been 
drawn  and  she  was  running  with  her  kennel  mate, 
Clip  Wind'em.  The  weather  had  been  rainy  the 
day  before  and  had  suddenly  turned  cold,  freezing 
the  occasional  drizzle  as  it  fell  and  making  the 
ground  severe  for  not  only  the  dogs  but  the 
horses,  glassy  as  it  was  on  the  surface.  Though 
the  mud  and  rain  were  frozen  all  over  her  legs 
and  underbody,  the  little  setter  went  three  hours 
and  a  half  at  high  speed.  When  taken  up  she 
was  in  a  wretched  plight,  showing  the  ordeal 
through  which  she  had  been  put.  Birds  were 
very  plentiful  and  nobody  knows  exactly  how 
many  points  she  made.  The  judges  counted  four- 
teen bevies  found  by  the  dogs  or  flushed  by  the 
riders,  and  Sioux  must  have  made  at  least  twenty 
points  with  only  one  or  two  slight  and  excusable 
errors. 

Most  of  these  incidents  refer  to  dogs  in  West- 
ern competitions  and  illustrate  the  taste  of  West- 
ern men.  None  the  less,  class  shows  itself  even 
in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  though  it 
takes  a  somewhat  different  form  where  dogs  are 
expected  to  adapt  themselves  quickly  to  small 
fields,  to  the  caution  of  work  on  ruffed  grouse, 
and   to  the   unreliable   habits  of   the  jack-snipe. 


222  The  Sporting  Dog 

My  impression  is  that  the  alertness,  nervous  en- 
ergy, and  quick  intelHgence  which  make  class  in 
one  part  of  the  country  make  it  in  another,  and 
that  a  high-class  dog  with  a  little  experience  is 
high-class  anywhere.  I  can  say,  at  least,  that 
when  nearly  twenty  years  ago  I  introduced 
Llewellins  to  the  lower  part  of  the  Eastern  shore 
of  Maryland,  a  practised  amateur  who  got  a  very 
fast  young  dog  —  for  those  days  —  became  very 
proud  of  the  animal's  ability  to  outpace  the  na- 
tives and  to  find  bevies  ahead  of  other  men's 
favorites. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  in  the  small  and 
patchy  fields  and  thickets  of  the  East,  obedience 
and  caution  are  more  exactingly  required.  The 
West  does,  speaking  generally,  admire  speed  and 
range,  and  the  East  lays  stress  upon  biddableness. 
I  find  that  among  the  many  persons  who  come  to 
me  for  information  and  advice  this  more  or  less 
general  contrast  is  manifested.  During  the  writ- 
ing of  this  chapter,  a  devoted  amateur  shot,  a 
prominent  St.  Louis  physician,  dropped  in  to 
consult  me  about  breeding  a  bitch.  I  told  him 
that  the  only  dog  I  had  at  home  was  a  handsome 
youngster  by  Sport's  Gath,  which  was  promising, 
but  rather  a  shooting  dog  than  a  high-class  per- 
former. The  doctor  was  much  obliged,  but  con- 
cluded to  look  further.  About  the  same  time  a 
gentleman  in  the  East  wrote  me  in  regard  to  two 


Class  223 

young  dogs  which  he  bought  at  my  suggestion 
not  long  ago.  He  said  that  in  his  judgment  the 
youngsters  were  first-class,  but  that  his  trainer 
wanted  to  reject  them  because  they  were  hard  to 
handle.  I  see  that  Mr.  Buckell  has  recently 
made  a  criticism  along  this  line  in  regard  to  the 
English  field  trials.  He  says  that  the  trainers 
control  the  entries  and  that  they  pick  dogs 
which  are  trained  with  the  least  trouble.  This 
disposition  of  the  trainers  he  regards  as  respon- 
sible for  the  inferior  natural  class  of  the  dogs  now 
contending  in  public  on  that  side  of  the  water. 
It  is  likely  that  Eastern  amateurs  will  have  to 
read  their  trainers  a  lecture  if  they  desire  dogs 
which  are  capable  of  what  a  Western  man  would 
call  first-rate  bevy  work  and  are  at  the  same 
time  responsive  to  command. 

Mohawk,  Mr.  Duryea's  latest  crack  setter,  has 
given  two  recorded  exhibitions  of  class.  In  his 
Derby  year  at  the  United  States  trials  he  was  on 
a  wide  cast,  going  a  great  pace,  for  at  all  times 
he  is  one  of  the  fastest  of  setters.  He  jumped  a 
ditch  and  in  the  fraction  of  a  second  from  the 
take-off  of  the  leap  he  caught  scent.  When  he 
struck  the  ground  he  was  flattened  on  a  stiff 
point,  his  head  turned  to  the  bevy.  The  next 
year,  in  the  same  club's  all-age  stake,  he  was  sev- 
eral hundred  yards  from  Avent,  his  handler,  rang- 
ing at  speed.     Passing  a  bushy  place,  he  whipped 


224  The  Sporting  Dog 

into  a  quick  point,  head  and  stern  up.  In  a 
moment  a  rabbit  jumped  out.  Mohawk  held  the 
point.  Avent  came  in  sight,  signalled  the  judges, 
and  called  "  Point !  "  As  the  handler  reached  the 
dog,  another  rabbit  scudded  away.  Avent  began 
to  grumble  about  the  luck.  The  judges  reached 
the  scene,  the  dog  still  immovable,  and  ordered 
Avent  to  flush.  He  told  them  that  the  point 
seemed  to  be  on  a  rabbit.  But  he  walked  ahead 
of  the  dog  and  flushed  a  bevy  of  quail.  Here  were 
speed,  nose,  decision,  intelligence,  and  stanchness. 

Everybody's  dog  does  these  things  except  when 
witnesses  are  present.  In  public  tests,  however, 
we  must  be  satisfied  with  an  occasional  perform- 
ance in  which  the  whole  combination  of  desir- 
able field  qualities  is  shown  to  a  high  degree; 
and  we  are  glad  to  have  a  few  to  treasure  for 
purposes  of  illustration. 

But  the  end  of  the  whole  matter  is  that  every 
amateur  should  have  a  dog  to  please  himself. 
Speaking  for  one  kind  of  taste,  I  am  not  backward 
in  saying  that,  while  I  admire  and  appreciate 
these  extremely  high-class  performers  when 
owned  by  other  men,  my  private  favorite,  even  in 
the  West,  would  always  be  a  good-looking  and 
stylish  dog  of  medium  speed,  and  not  only  bird 
sense  but  intelligence  and  responsiveness  in  all 
other  respects.  This  is  because  I  very  much 
admire  quality  and  appearance,  and  because  I  am 


Class  22  s 

a  moderate  walker  and  rather  a  poor  shot.  But 
I  have  discovered  that  nine  good  field  shots  out 
of  ten  among  amateurs  are  like  the  old  fox-hunter 
to  whom  I  have  referred,  and  enjoy  seeing  their 
dogs  out-ranging  other  dogs.  If  that  is  their 
enjoyment,  they  are  right,  and  this  analysis  of  class 
which  I  have  attempted  will  be  of  use  to  them  as 
well  as  to  those  who  desire  to  measure  the  work 
in  public  competitions. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

TRAINING    AND     CARE 

Most  writers  advise  amateurs  not  to  train  their 
own  shooting  dogs,  on  the  principle  of  every 
man  to  his  trade.  In  the  general  interest  of  field 
education  the  contrary  advice  should  be  given. 
The  amateur  who  trains  his  own  dog  may  not 
queer  the  dog,  and  cannot  fail  to  do  himself  a 
world  of  good.  It  is  a  fact  of  statistics  that  nine 
dogs  are  well  trained  for  the  field  where  one  man 
is  qualified  to  associate  with  either  a  dog  of  good 
field  manners  or  a  sportsman  of  discretion.  Grad- 
uates in  the  school  of  experience  will  agree  with- 
out dissent  that  the  training  of  dogs  is  a  lesser 
problem  than  that  of  training  the  men  who  do  the 
shooting.  Among  the  drawbacks  of  the  sport  is 
the  misfortune  that  in  almost  every  party  there  is 
an  individual  who  acts  the  role  of  salt  in  the  ice 
cream  and  fly  in  the  ointment.  He  yells  at  every 
new  movement  of  the  dog ;  he  breaks  shot ;  he 
cannot  let  the  dog  retrieve  in  peace,  but  must  rush 
up  and  grab  the  bird ;  he  will  shoot  at  rabbits  and 
larks ;  he  does  everything  to  make  the  dog  com- 
mit the  faults  which  a  year  of  education  has  barely 

226 


Training  and  Care  227 

corrected;  then  he  spreads  reports  about  your 
"no  good"  pointers    and  your   cheating  trainer. 

There  is  the  man  who  sends  a  young  dog  to  a 
trainer ;  lets  the  latter  work  just  long  enough  to 
establish  a  yard  obedience ;  writes  in  a  hurry  for 
the  dog  to  go  on  a  "hunt";  does  not  take  the 
trouble  to  learn  what  methods  and  orders  the 
trainer  has  used  or  whether  the  animal  is  in  a 
physical  condition  for  endurance  ;  swears  at  dog 
and  trainer  because  he  doesn't  find  an  exact 
machine  in  work  and  a  trolley  car  in  staying 
power. 

Dogs  could  do  with  less  schooling  if  the  men 
who  used  them  had  more.  There  would  be  more 
dogs  of  the  dien  eleves  class  if  nobody  might  shoot 
over  them  except  those  who  could  prove  a  char- 
acter for  at  least  letting  them  alone. 

But  these  corrupters  of  dog  youth  are  not  to  be 
exterminated  or  cured.  It  is  rather  a  waste  of 
time  to  discourse  upon  their  shortcomings. 

Training  dogs  for  the  gun  is  an  art  of  some  de- 
tail, and  this  chapter  can  only  mention  the  leading 
principles.  If  the  amateur  wishes  to  master  the 
art  as  it  is  practised  in  America,  he  can  find  the 
directions  in  the  books  of  Mr.  Waters,  or  in 
the  smaller  but  excellent  treatise  of  Mr.  Haber- 
lein. 

Upon  one  general  proposition  I  should  like  to 
lay  especial  emphasis.     It  is  that  a  dog  should 


228  The  Sporting  Dog 

have  a  chance  to  ripen  under  experience.  Les- 
sons hurriedly  crammed  do  not  take  deep  root  in 
either  the  human  or  canine  mind.  Slow  develop- 
ment is  nearly  always  the  best  development.  It 
should  be  the  rule,  if  one  desires  his  dogs  to  be 
really  finished  and  perfected,  to  leave  them  with  a 
reliable  trainer  for  two  seasons.  Some  of  the  best 
dogs  reach  their  form  slowly,  preserving  their 
natural  good  qualities  only  by  coming  under  dis- 
cipline without  the  severity  of  a  rushed  education. 
When  Mr.  Burdett  bought  Cincinnatus's  Pride  as 
a  young  dog,  the  selection  was  made  on  account 
of  the  dog's  beauty  and  attractive  disposition. 
Mr.  Burdett  expected  to  get  a  shooting  dog  for 
his  Southern  trips.  Richards,  I  think,  was  his 
trainer  at  that  time.  Mr.  Burdett  owned  Anne 
of  Abbotsford,  one  of  the  best  field  trial  winners 
of  the  day.  After  the  trainer  had  had  the  two  to- 
gether in  the  Northwest  for  several  months,  he 
wrote  to  Mr.  Burdett,  saying_that,  unless  he  was 
mistaken,  he  would  have  a  surprise  ready  in  a  few 
weeks.  A  little  later  came  a  letter  saying  that 
Pride  was  beating  Anne  in  the  class  of  his  work. 
Mr.  Burdett  was  indeed  surprised  and  doubtful ; 
but  permitted  the  trainer  to  have  his  way,  and  the 
dog  world  knows  the  flashing  career  of  Pride  in 
the  Southern  trials  of  the  next  season. 

The  pointer.  Jingo,  was  another  case  of  late 
development.     In  his  first  experience  he  had  not 


Training  and  Care  229 

a  great  deal  of  speed  and  almost  no  style.  The 
superficial  observer  would  have  called  him  a  good 
reliable  shooting  prospect.  Under  sensible  train- 
ing he  gradually  increased  his  range  and  speed 
until  he  reached  the  form  which  made  him  the 
crack  pointer  in  both  his  Derby  and  all-age  years. 

A  finished  dog  retrieves  promptly  to  order 
from  land  and  water ;  "  heels "  at  a  word  and 
remains  until  ordered  out ;  he  is  quiet  in  buggy 
or  wagon ;  respects  the  whistle  and  obeys  the 
hand  of  his  handler  at  any  distance ;  is  steady 
to  shot  and  wing;  neglects  rabbits  and  all  fur; 
backs  at  sight  of  a  decisive  point. 

Comparatively  few  dogs  are  polished  to  the 
extent  of  being  perfect  in  all  these  respects. 
Field  trial  work  calls  for  the  least  allowable 
restraint.  In  America  the  tendency  is  to  break 
dogs,  even  for  the  gun,  as  little  as  comfort  and 
efHciency  permit.  The  main  proposition  is  that 
the  dog  must  find  birds,  and  without  delay.  An 
American  shot  will  pardon  mistakes  and  lack  of 
polish ;  incompetency,  never.  Fancy  accomplish- 
ments only  irritate  the  American  when  the  "get 
there  "  abilities  are  weak.  Still,  a  really  educated 
dog  does  all  these  things  I  have  named,  and  does 
them  cheerfully.  Since  American  shooting  calls 
for  a  higher  class  of  efficiency  than  the  sport 
demands  in  Great  Britain,  it  is  the  more  impera- 
tive that  a  trainer  should  have  plenty  of  time  in 


230  The  Sporting  Dog 

which  to  inculcate  the  self-control  of  education 
without  diminishing  range,  speed,  and  zest  in  the 
search. 

A  trainer  cannot  give  knowledge  to  a  dog; 
that  comes  only  with  natural  intelligence  and 
experience.  What  the  trainer  does  is  to  estab- 
lish habits  contrary  to  the  dog's  natural  inclina- 
tions. This  cannot  be  done  except  by  lessons 
many,  many,  many  times  repeated.  The  principle 
is  stated  in  the  phrase,  "steady  coercion,  sym- 
pathetically applied." 

What  the  bow  is  to  the  fiddler,  the  hammer  to 
the  smith,  the  color-box  to  the  painter,  the  check- 
cord  is  to  the  dog  trainer.  There  are  men  who 
will  tell  you  that  they  train  by  stinging  their  dogs 
with  bird  shot  when  not  obedient.  Others  tell 
you  that  thumping  with  a  stick,  or  punching 
with  a  gun-barrel,  or  a  few  kicks  in  the  ribs  will 
do  the  work.  For  that  kind  of  men  that  kind  of 
training  may  be  all  right.  A  dog  often  becomes 
good  by  mere  experience  in  spite  of  such  obsta- 
cles, but  his  goodness  must  not  be  credited  to 
the  mistake  in  treatment.  The  many  uses  of  the 
check-cord  combined  with  the  spike  collar,  need 
not  be  recited,  but,  in  a  general  way,  the  amateur 
can  make  no  mistake  if  he  understands  that  the 
check-cord  is  used  in  establishing  nearly  all  the 
acts  which  a  field  dog  learns  to  perform  as  a  part 
of   training.     With    the    cord   you    make  a  dog 


Training  and  Care  231 

understand  precisely  what  it  is  you  want  him  to 
do.  If  he  disobeys  or  makes  a  mistake,  he  realizes 
what  you  mean  when  he  receives  correction.  ^ 

Retrieving  is  the  main  trouble  of  the  trainer, 
and  may  be  said  to  include  nearly  all  the  other 
things  in  his  repertory.  That  is,  in  the  course 
of  teaching  a  dog  to  retrieve,  you  could  incident- 
ally teach  him  to  obey  almost  any  other  order. 

The  great  central  rule  is  to  make  the  dog  obey 
one  simple  command  at  a  time  and  not  confuse 
him  with  anything  else.  Patiently  compel  him 
to  follow  a  simple  direction  over  and  over  again 
until  he  connects  the  order  instantly  with  the  act. 
First  make  him  sit  on  his  haunches  until  he  hears 
the  word  of  release ;  then  make  him  hold  a  pad 
in  his  mouth  until  similarly  relieved ;  then  make 
him  pick  it  up  from  the  floor ;  then  fetch  it  from 
a  little  distance.  After  this  yard  breaking  is  satis- 
factory, take  him  in  the  field  and  make  him  go 
through  the  same  performances  many  times  with 
a  dead  bird.  Even  then,  when  he  gets  under  the 
excitement  of  regular  hunting,  he  will  forget  the 

lesson. 

Here  is  where  the  amateur  often  demoralizes 
the  dog's  education.  He  becomes  interested  in 
hunting  and  wants  to  shoot  and  get  birds.  He 
indulges  the  dog's  disobedience  and  piles  up 
trouble  for  subsequent  efforts  at  education.  The 
imperative  rule  is  not  to  mix  up  the  human  desire 


232  The  Sporting  Dog 

to  get  game  with  the  process  of  teaching  the  dog. 
You  must  let  the  birds  be  entirely  secondary  until 
the  dog  retrieves  not  only  reliably  but  with  good 
manners. 

Nowadays,  nobody  cares  for  a  natural  retriever. 
Natural  retrieving  means  that  the  dog  recovers 
birds  when  he  feels  like  it  and  that  he  falls  into 
many  bad  habits.  A  modern  trainer  does  not 
regard  a  dog's  natural  retrieving  as  having  any 
bearing  on  the  subject.  The  animal  must  retrieve 
under  a  force  system  and  strictly  to  order. 

Many  sportsmen  do  not  permit  their  dogs  to 
retrieve,  believing  that  it  interferes  with  the  class 
of  the  work  and  that  it  leads  to  such  annoyances 
as  the  chewing  of  birds  and  constant  pottering 
after  imaginary  dead  game.  Some  like  to  shoot 
with  a  brace  of  high-class  dogs  which  do  not  re- 
trieve and  a  quiet  old  chap  which  does  nothing 
else.  As  a  rule,  however,  the  American  field 
shot  does  not  own  many  dogs  and  insists  upon 
retrieving. 

Backing  is  often  naturally  or  quickly  acquired, 
but  more  often  it  is  a  matter  of  compulsion  to 
make  a  dog  promptly  recognize  another's  point. 
Some  dogs  otherwise  excellent  are  extremely  jeal- 
ous, and  are  unhappy  unless  they  can  carry  their 
noses  a  little  in  front.  Llewellin  setters  are 
especially  erratic  in  this  respect.  A  good  trainer 
has  his  dogs  stop  quickly  at  a  word  or  whistle, 


Training  and  Care  123 

and  practises  them  with  a  cord  in  the  field  until 
they  obey  without  question.  The  order  generally 
consists  of  some  definite  word,  such  as  "  whoa," 
accompanied  with  the  straight  holding  up  of  the 
hand.  In  this  way  backing  can  afterwards  be 
quickly  taught  in  actual  work ;  the  whistle  sig- 
nal to  stop  being  accompanied  with  the  hand 
command. 

Dealing  with  a  timid  or  gun-shy  dog  is  a  neces- 
sary part  of  the  art.  It  is  a  fact  that  a  great 
many  of  the  very  cleverest  dogs,  both  pointers 
and  setters,  are  at  first  gun-shy.  The  usual 
method  of  treatment  is  to  fire  small  pistol  loads 
around  the  yard  until  the  dog  ceases  to  pay 
attention.  Some  trainers  use  the  pistol  when- 
ever the  dogs  are  called  out  to  feed.  Making 
this  a  regular  practice,  young  dogs  are  supposed 
to  associate  feeding  with  the  noise  and  do  not 
require  any  special  lessons. 

Modern  training  does  not  expect  a  dog  to 
"  charge  "  or  lie  down  to  shot  or  wing.  The  idea 
is  that  the  dog  handles  his  work  better  if  he  is 
permitted  to  observe  where  the  birds  go.  This, 
however,  is  a  matter  of  taste  and  some  owners 
still  wish  their  dogs  to  charge. 

In  nearly  all  American  country  there  is  a  great 
deal  of  early  annoyance  on  account  of  rabbits. 
Many  dogs  cease  of  their  own  accord  to  pay 
much  attention  to  rabbits  after  a  few  birds  have 


234  The  Sporting  Dog 

been  shot  over  them,  but  as  a  rule  a  bird  dog  v/ill 
point  on  rabbit.  The  chief  trouble  occurs  less 
from  the  rabbits  themselves  than  from  the  pres- 
ence of  scent  where  rabbits  are  at  all  abundant, 
certain  dogs  being  prone  to  potter  over  it  and 
false  point. 

A  watchful  trainer,  with  a  few  sharp  orders  to 
"  go  on,"  is  generally  able  to  get  rid  of  this  diffi- 
culty after  a  short  time.  The  main  thing  is 
never  to  shoot  a  rabbit  or  to  pay  any  attention 
to  it  yourself.  If  you  do  not  mind  it,  a  dog  will 
not  be  slow  to  follow  your  example. 

Field  trial  work  is  handling  rather  than  train- 
ing. The  handler  endeavors  to  reach  just  the 
difficult  line  where  a  dog  can  be  directed  on  a 
course,  and  still  be  independent  in  ranging  and 
absorbed  in  his  search.  Natural  qualities  and  not 
forced  habits  are  the  standards.  All  that  matter 
does  not  concern  the  shooting  amateur. 

Foxhounds  and  beagles  are  not  trained.  They 
are  "entered,"  or  practised,  when  young,  by  having 
short  runs  with  the  old  hounds.  The  only  real 
training  is  to  require  the  hound  to  honor  the  horn, 
and  to  refrain  from  riot  on  the  road. 

Greyhound  training  is  a  fine  art  of  itself,  but 
rather  resembles  the  management  of  a  race- 
horse. The  object  is  not  to  discipline,  but  to  put 
in  the  highest  possible  physical  condition.  The 
only  teaching  consists  in  slipping  a  few  times  on 


Training  and  Care  235 

hares  to  inculcate  readiness  in  leaving  slips  and 
in  scoring.  The  trainer  avoids  unnecessary  work 
on  hares,  as  the  greyhound  is  likely  to  learn  too 
much  and  become  "cunning." 

In  the  matter  of  caring  for  dogs  the  general 
theory  is  simple.  Every  dog  is  naturally  a  vaga- 
bond and  is  the  better  for  a  bit  of  opportunity  to 
loaf  and  wander.  But  in  the  case  of  valuable 
animals  the  liberty  is  rarely  permissible.  As  far 
as  the  dog's  welfare  is  concerned,  the  simplest 
form  of  kennel  is  as  good  as  any.  That  consists 
of  a  cheap  wire  fence  and  a  rough  board  sleeping- 
place.  The  only  necessary  points  are  that  the 
sleeping-place  be  free  from  draughts,  and  dry. 
If  it  can  be  made  deep  and  dark,  the  dog  will  be 
happier.  From  that  provision  up  to  the  most 
elaborate  and  ornate  kennel  is  a  matter  of  the 
owner's  taste  and  has  little  to  do  with  the  good 
of  the  dog.  I  would  rather  have  a  cheap,  rough 
kennel  and  change  it  from  one  piece  of  ground  to 
another  at  least  once  a  year,  than  to  have  the 
most  expensive  affair  so  situated  that  dogs  must 
remain  on  the  same  ground  for  many  years.  If  a 
man  undertakes  to  raise  puppies,  he  will  find  that 
in  a  year  or  two  one  piece  of  ground  becomes  a 
hatching-place  of  distemper  and  of  distemper  in 
the  worst  form.  I  really  believe  that  it  is  better 
to  leave  puppies  on  the  open  ground  without  a 
roof  over  their  heads  than  to  place   them   in   a 


236  The  Sporting  Dog 

kennel  where  other  dogs  have  been  kept  for  any 
length  of  time.  The  most  lavish  use  of  disin- 
fectants will  not  secure  immunity,  though  it  re- 
duces the  danger. 

A  great  physician  said  last  year  in  a  conven- 
tion that  with  only  four  medicines  nearly  all  dis- 
eases could  be  treated  in  common  practice :  calo- 
mel, quinine,  carbolic  acid,  and  iodide  of  potash. 
Dogs  have  exactly  the  same  diseases  which  afflict 
men,  and  respond  to  the  same  medicines.  With 
some  changes  these  four  standard  medicines  are 
all  that  the  owner  will  ordinarily  find  necessary. 
The  dog  physiology  is  particularly  susceptible 
to  calomel,  and  that  mineral  should  never  be 
used.  Substitute  castor  oil  or  cascara  for  calo- 
mel, and  the  medicine  chest  is  pretty  nearly  full,  ex- 
cept for  santonin  and  areca  nut  against  the  great 
enemy  —  worms.  Santonin  is  used  for  young 
dogs  and  in  the  case  of  common  worms  ;  the  areca 
nut  for  tapew^orm.  Carbolic  acid,  of  course ,  is 
for  external  skin  troubles  and  wounds.  Salicyl- 
ate of  soda  should  take  the  place  of  iodide.  It  is 
an  intestinal  disinfectant,  or  "  blood  purifier,"  and 
while  not  a  specific  for  distemper,  is  by  all  odds 
the  most  valuable  among  the  simple  medicines 
so  far  applied  to  that  disease.  The  dose  is  from 
three  to  eight  grains,  according  to  the  dog's  age, 
three  times  a  day.  Hyposulphite  of  soda  is  used 
for  the  same  purpose.     It  would  be  useful  also  if 


Training  and  Care  237 

the  owner  could  have  at  hand  a  bottle  of  salad  or 
olive  oil.  Dogs  are  prone  to  eat  bones  and  other 
hard  substances,  and  these  cause  frequent  obstruc- 
tions. The  oil  is  given  in  wine-glass  quantities 
as  a  lubricant.  It  has  been  for  years  an  honored 
belief  that  dogs  should  be  fed  on  bones.  No 
doubt  they  can  digest  bones  much  better  than 
can  other  domestic  animals.  Nevertheless,  a  dog 
risks  his  life  when  he  swallows  sharp-pointed 
bones,  and  the  wise  kennelman  will  not  permit 
risks  in  the  case  of  valuable  animals.  The  well- 
known  setter,  Kingston,  died  in  that  way,  and 
hundreds  -of  other  deaths  can  be  traced  to  the 
same  cause. 

It  is  easy  to  give  a  dog  liquid  medicine  if  one 
person  will  hold  his  jaws  shut  while  the  other 
pulls  out  the  pouch  of  the  mouth  and  pours  in 
the  liquid. 

If  there  is  but  one  dog,  ordinary  table  scraps 
are  the  best  food.  In  a  large  kennel  it  is  better 
to  follow  the  usual  greyhound  practice  of  feed- 
ing "  stirabout,"  which  in  this  country  consists 
of  corn  meal  thoroughly  boiled  with  some  kind 
of  cheap  meat  scraps ;  usually,  in  the  West,  crack- 
lings from  the  packing  houses.  For  puppies  the 
best  food  is  milk,  or  soup,  thickened  with  graham 
bread.  A  very  cheap  and  most  useful  variation  for 
all  ages  is  ordinary  beans  or  peas,  thoroughly  boiled 
with  pork  to  impart  the  meat  flavor  and  relish. 


238  The  Sporting  Dog 

Never  use  corn  meal  alone.  In  fact,  it  is  a  poor 
food  in  any  form  of  mixture  if  graham  bread  or 
oatmeal  is  available. 

In  active  training  field  dog  men  could  learn 
a  great  deal  from  greyhound  trainers.  There 
are  few  handlers  of  shooting  dogs  who  know 
how  to  get  or  keep  their  dogs  in  good  condition. 
For  the  last  week  of  a  greyhound's  training  and 
when  he  is  at  a  meeting,  he  is  fed  on  a  manufac- 
tured biscuit  in  the  morning  and  solid,  raw,  lean 
beef  in  the  evening.  A  greyhound  seems  to 
get  both  blood  condition  and  nervous  energy  on 
this  feeding,  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  setter, 
or  pointer,  on  the  eve  of  a  field  trial  would  come 
to  a  sharper  edge  if  fed  something  the  same  way. 
It  is  true  that  a  shooting  dog  or  hound  should 
not  have  even  half  the  proportion  of  meat  fed  to 
a  greyhound  in  training,  but  each  would  be  the 
better  for  more  than  is  commonly  allowed.  While 
field  dogs  are  not  as  delicate  or  as  liable  to 
suffer  from  exposure  as  greyhounds,  they  have 
their  susceptibilities  and  need  some  care,  other 
than  they  get  at  field  trials,  to  guard  against 
congestions,  exhaustions,  and  the  effects  of 
extreme  weather. 

In  a  field  trial  kennel  is  usually  a  tank  filled 
with  "  dip  "  to  destroy  fleas  and  prevent  mange. 
The  favorite  solution  —  liked  because  it  does 
not  hurt  the  eyes  and  facilitates  the  quick  work 


Training  and  Care  239 

of  "sousing"  the  dog,  head  and  all  —  is  lye  and 
sulphur.  A  box  of  extra  strong  concentrated 
lye  is  dissolved  and  into  the  water  is  stirred  four 
or  five  pounds  of  sulphur  over  a  fire.  This  mix- 
ture is  diluted  with  about  a  barrel  of  water  and 
is  ready  for  use.  Some  kennelmen  add  an  ounce 
or  two  of  sulphuric  acid. 

These  are  the  essential  accessories  of  the  regu- 
lar kennel.  Nothing  else  needs  to  be  said  except 
that  it  saves  money  and  trouble  to  call  a  veteri- 
nary when  serious  sickness  first  appears.  While 
that  advice  is  good,  the  owner  of  a  dog  should 
also  have  the  books  of  Dr.  Wesley  Mills  and 
"Ashmont"  in  his  library. 

One  crime  of  the  kennel  the  humane  societies 
should  place  among  the  objects  of  their  labor.  It 
is  the  severe  working  of  a  pregnant  female  —  a 
practice  due  to  a  superstition  about  the  hunting 
instinct  being  strengthened  in  the  pups.  After 
the  life  of  the  young  mammal  has  once  begun, 
all  the  dam  will  ever  do  is  to  furnish  nutrition 
and  guard  from  enemies.  Cold  science  knows 
that  a  foetus  is  as  much  a  parasite  as  a  tapeworm. 
Severe  work  and  excitement  interfere  sadly  with 
nutrition,  and  a  bitch  so  treated  is  very  likely  to 
have  puppies  so  weakened  that  they  will  develop 
rickets  or  other  diseases.  Shun  the  man  who 
would  sell  you  puppies  nourished  by  a  mother 
overworked    in    her    pregnancy.     He    would    as 


240  The  Sporting  Dog 

well  be  praising  blind  or  idiotic  ancestry.  Good 
dogs  may  come  from  such  an  unfortunate  mother, 
but  they  do  not  start  with  a  square  chance. 

Another  superstition  which  causes  as  much 
troublous  apprehension  to  the  breeder  as  any, 
is  a  belief  that  when  a  female  is  mated  with  an 
undesirable  male,  subsequent  litters  by  other 
males  are  affected.  Without  going  into  the  rea- 
sons, it  may  be  said  conclusively  that  this  is  a 
physical  impossibility  and  that  breeders  need  never 
give  it  a  thought.  If  there  were  anything  in  it, 
the  Hanover  family  of  race-horses  would  not  be 
thoroughbreds,  for  Bourbon  Belle  had  a  trotting 
colt  before  she  foaled  Hanover. 

One  more  superstition  —  the  mad-dog  scare. 
Personally  I  do  not  believe  that  there  is  such  a 
specific  disease  as  hydrophobia  from  a  bite. 
There  are  tetanus,  meningitis,  strychnine  poison- 
ing, and  a  rabies  which  can  be  communicated  by 
contact.  In  practice  such  things  are  all  to  be 
dreaded.  Don't  be  alarmed  about  hydrophobia, 
but  keep  your  eye  on  a  dog  which  begins  to  act 
queerly.  Isolate  him,  give  him  a  purgative,  and 
send  for  the  veterinary. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

BREEDING 

To  the  "  questing  intelligence "  breeding  is 
the  main  end  of  all  studies  in  animals.  It  is 
attractive  to  mental  curiosity  because  it  is  both 
momentous  and  elusive. 

For  purposes  of  biological  science  there  is  no 
difference  between  homo  and  canis.  If  the  in- 
quirer can  discover  the  operations  of  cause  and 
effect  in  the  heredity  of  one  mammal,  the  whole 
book  of  life  lies  open.  So  far,  however,  there  is 
not  much  to  tell,  —  will  not  be  much,  now,  until 
the  biologists  work  out  Mendel's  law 

If  a  purveyor  of  formulas  gives  you  advice  about 
breeding  dogs,  go  your  way  and  take  the  opposite 
course.  In  so  doing  you  are  as  likely  to  succeed, 
and  you  will  have  the  satisfaction  of  being  inde- 
pendent and  original. 

Everybody  has  copious  opinions  about  breed- 
ing; nobody  has  much  knowledge.  In  all  trades 
it  is  so  easy  to  write  words  of  wisdom  and 
so  hard  to  pay  a  dividend  ;  so  easy  to  see  ghosts 
and  so  hard  to  make  them  walk.  Commentators 
on  the  breeding  of  horses  and  dogs  can  construct 

R  241 


242  The  Sporting  Dog 

more  theorems  and  present  more  deductions  in 
an  hour  than  can  be  proved  in  fifty  years  of 
experiment. 

For  it  must  be  remembered  that  breeding  is  not 
mathematics,  but  merely  experiment  and  empiri- 
cism ;  that,  except  within  certain  broad  Hmits, 
nobody  can  tell  where  a  calculation  will  land. 
John  H.  Wallace,  the  trotting  horse  authority, 
once  said  that  in  breeding  two  and  two  sometimes 
make  four,  but  often  only  three.  That  phrase 
condenses  the  story  as  far  as  it  has  gone.  To 
every  breeding  formula  the  answer  is :  It  may  be 
so ;  sometimes  it  is  and  sometimes  it  isn't. 

There  are  two  broad  rules  which  may  be  counted 
upon.  One  is  that  a  breed  or  variety,  in  propor- 
tion to  the  length  and  thoroughness  of  its  estab- 
lishment, will  reproduce  its  general  characteristics. 
The  other  is  that  nothing  can  change  within  the 
purview  of  a  human  generation  the  essential  char- 
acteristics of  a  genus.  Each  characteristic  can 
only  be  increased  or  diminished.  None  will  dis- 
appear and  there  will  not  be  new  ones.  For 
example,  every  animal  of  the  dog  tribe,  from  a 
coyote  to  St.  Bernard,  has  an  acute  nose  and 
depends  much  on  the  olfactory  sense  for  its 
knowledge  of  objects.  Every  one  of  the  tribe 
also  "  points  "  more  or  less  in  approaching  hidden 
game,  and  every  one  retrieves  or  carries  things 
about  in  its    mouth.      These   characteristics   are 


Breeding  243 

intensified  in  field  dogs ;  but  any  dog  can  be,  if 
its  game-hunting  instinct  has  not  been  too  much 
bred  away,  easily  taught  to  recognize  hidden 
game,  point,  back,  and  retrieve.  In  field  dogs, 
since  these  ineradicable  nerve  habits  of  all  ca- 
nines have  been  intensified  by  long  years  of 
selection,  the  production  of  a  special  aptitude  in 
breeding  and  the  development  of  it  in  training 
may  be  forecast  with  assurance.  The  same  rule 
holds  in  general  physical  qualities.  Beyond  that 
fact  not  much  is  predicable.  The  breeder  may 
succeed  in  getting  good  dogs,  but  one  would  wait 
long  to  find  a  dog  which  at  maturity  exactly  real- 
ized in  looks  or  character  the  image  which  was 
before  the  breeder's  mind  when  he  made  the  mat- 
ing. A  phenomenon  never  reproduces  itself;  it 
may  produce  something  as  good  or  better,  but 
never  a  fac-simile.  So  you  can't  tell  about  the 
sons  of  great  dogs  any  more  than  about  the  sons 
of  great  men. 

The  making  of  cut-and-dried  systems  and  rules 
has  an  almost  morbid  attraction  for  both  authors 
and  audiences.  Hundreds  of  horse  breeders  be- 
lieve in  the  "  figure  "  system  —  a  rank  absurdity 
in  its  main  propositions  and  yet  having  a  certain 
valuable  attachment  of  facts  and  suggestions. 
Some  dog  breeders  have  a  rule  of  breeding  twice  in 
and  once  out,  and  some  alter  the  proportions  to  twice 
out  and  once  in.     One  of  the  commonest  calcula- 


244  The  Sporting  Dog 

tions  is  that  if  one  side  of  the  house  is  big,  the 
other  should  be  little,  or  vice  versa  ;  so  with  fine 
and  coarse.  If  a  man  has  a  potterer,  he  thinks  to 
get  the  golden  mean  by  breeding  to  an  uncon- 
trollable bolter.  The  favorite  formula  among  Eng- 
lish setter  men  is  to  get  into  the  pedigree  fifty  per 
cent  of  Laverack  and  fifty  per  cent  of  Duke-Rhoebe 
blood.  I  suppose  that  in  a  year  or  two  pointer 
men  will  begin  to  figure  on  the  same  percentages 
with  King  of  Kent  and  Mainspring.  One  man 
has  childlike  faith  in  the  rule  of  a  big  dam  and  a 
small,  nervous  sire.  Another  believes  in  the  small 
dam  and  the  big,  masculine,  rugged  sire.  Some 
purists  hang  out  a  "  no  trespass  "  sign  against  an 
outcross.  This  has  come  to  be  a  fetich  with  many 
field  dog  breeders,  though  the  Llewellins  are  the 
result  of  a  sharp  outcross  and  though  in  pointers 
Mainspring  and  Rip  Rap  both  came  from  a  cross 
of  Devonshire  pointers  on  the  Drake  and  Hamlet 
blood.  Another  set  of  breeders  are  perpetually 
looking  for  crosses,  though  the  records  should  tell 
them  that  a  cross,  while  often  useful  and  necessary, 
is  in  many  more  cases  a  grasping  at  the  shadow 
and  losing  the  substance. 

Inbreeding  is  a  subject  of  most  positive  opin- 
ions and  most  baseless  sermonizing.  Perhaps 
nine  people  out  of  ten  believe  that  inbreeding 
produces  puny  and  degenerate  descendants.  Like 
other  breeding  practices,  sometimes  it  does  and 


Breeding  i^s 

sometimes  it  doesn't.  One  of  the  finest  families 
of  Irish  setters,  of  which  the  famous  Geraldine 
was  a  member,  came  originally  from  an  acciden- 
tal union  of  Palmerston  with  his  full  sister.  Quail. 
The  most  remarkable  incident  of  inbreeding  of 
English  setters  in  this  country  was  that  of  Dr. 
Stark,  then  of  Wisconsin  and  afterward  of  South 
Dakota.  Taking  Mr.  Adams's  Dora,  by  Duke 
out  of  Rhcebe,  as  a  foundation,  her  daughter  by 
Rock  —  he  also  carrying  Duke-Rhoebe  blood  — 
was  bred  to  Bergundthal's  Rake,  he  being  closely 
inbred  to  Rhoebe.  From  this  union  came  Madam 
Llewellin,  and  she  was  bred  back  to  Rake,  pro- 
ducing a  large  lemon-and-white  dog  named  Wild 
Rake.  This  dog  went  into  the  hands  of  Mr. 
W.  W,  Titus,  and  afterward  belonged  to  Messrs. 
W.  C.  Kennerly  and  P.  H.  O'Bannon  of  Vir- 
ginia. The  last  I  heard  of  him  he  belonged  to 
Mr.  Jester  of  Delaware.  Wild  Rake  was  of  little 
or  no  value,  as  all  these  breeders  proved,  but  he 
had  plenty  of  size  and  physical  vigor  and  no  de- 
ficiency of  intelligence  —  that  is,  of  intelligence  for 
ordinary  purposes.  But  from  the  continuous  in- 
breeding to  old  Rhoebe,  and,  perhaps,  from  the 
Rock  blood  which  he  carried,  he  had  little  defin- 
ite ambition  or  responsiveness  to  training.  I  had 
one  litter  from  him  which  were  all  large  dogs, 
two  of  them  almost  giants.  The  largest  ones 
were  fairly  good  on  birds,  but  very  slow.     One  of 


246  The  Sporting  Dog 

the  medium-sized  brothers  became  an  exception- 
ally fine  bird  dog,  but  gave  considerable  trouble 
to  the  trainer  at  first  by  his  gun-shyness  and  tim- 
idity. The  other  was  rather  hard-headed  and  ob- 
stinate, but  developed  into  a  fast,  high-class,  and 
valuable  dog.  I  think  that  these  two  drew  their 
best  characteristics  from  their  dam,  which  had  a 
strong  inheritance  of  blood  from  Bolus's  Belton. 
There  are  some  other  notable  experiments  of 
inbreeding.  One  was  the  mating  of  Gath,  a 
grandson  of  Gladstone,  with  Gem,  a  daughter  of 
Gladstone.  The  result  was  a  litter  of  large, 
strong  and  gifted  dogs,  the  leaders  of  which  were 
Gath's  Mark  and  Gath's  Hope.  Marse  Ben,  a 
large,  strong,  vigorous  dog,  of  which  I  have  fre- 
quently spoken  in  this  book,  is  a  result  on  his 
dam's  side  of  close  inbreeding ;  and  he  has  lately 
been  bred  back  to  his  dam,  giving  a  litter  of 
puppies  not  lacking  in  size  or  strength.  Tony 
Boy,  the  finest  example  among  setters  of  endur- 
ance at  high  speed,  is  close  up  to  Roderigo  on 
both  sides.  Mr.  James  Cole  of  Kansas  City  bred 
Lady  Cole  back  to  her  sire,  Cincinnatus's  Pride, 
and  got  a  litter  of  strong,  beautiful  puppies. 

These  examples  are  not  cited  to  persuade  any- 
body that  inbreeding  is  a  rule  to  follow  for  its 
own  sake.  Indiscriminately  applied,  such  a  rule 
would  be  vicious.  I  mention  them  to  show  that 
there    is    no    law   of    inheritance    under    which 


Breeding  247 

inbreeding  produces  puny  and  weak  specimens. 
It  all  depends  on  selection  and  circumstances. 
One  trouble  about  close  line  breeding  is  the 
tendency  after  the  second  generation  to  split  up 
into  the  original  elements. 

Some  people  will  tell  you  that  a  sire  and  dam 
must  both  be  good  in  order  to  produce  good 
descendants;  and  yet  Gladstone's  dam  was  indi- 
vidually worthless,  and  Rodfield's  dam  has  been 
described  to  me  as  of  no  value  except  for  her  pedi- 
gree. It  frequently  happens  that  a  dog  is  much 
better  than  either  his  sire  or  dam.  I  can  cite  an 
example  in  a  litter  which  I  bred  from  the  grey- 
hound Mystic  Maid,  herself  only  a  moderate  per- 
former. I  bred  her  to  Astronomy,  a  still  more 
moderate  dog,  and  the  result  was  one  of  the  best 
litters  of  greyhounds  I  ever  saw.  All  of  them 
were  unlucky  except  Astral  Maid.  She  alone 
came  to  coursing  form.  During  the  season  when 
she  was  in  good  training  she  won  every  stake  in 
which  she  was  entered.  She  was  far  superior  in 
looks  and  coursing  quality  to  either  her  sire 
or  dam.  Another  greyhound  case  is  that  of  Mon- 
soon, winner  of  the  American  Waterloo  Cup  of 
1 90 1.  Monsoon's  dam.  Little  Fairy,  was  a  dwarf- 
ish and  w^iippet-looking  thing,  but  well  bred. 
Monsoon,  except  for  a  tendency  to  run  cunning, 
was  one  of  the  best  greyhounds  ever  started  in 
St.  Louis,  a  class  beyond  either  sire  or  dam. 


248  The  Sporting  Dog 

Wiseacres  often  say  that  breeders  should  wait 
until  animals  are  fully  matured  before  breeding ; 
yet  the  pointer,  Dot's  Pearl,  had  six  winners  in 
two  litters,  all  produced  before  she  was  two  years 
old.  My  own  experience  is  that  the  very  first 
litter  is  the  best  and  is  all  the  better  if  produced 
from  the  first  season. 

Perhaps  the  safest  advice  to  the  young  breeder 
is  to  recommend  the  rule  of  Lord  Falmouth  in 
breeding  race-horses.  His  idea  was  to  use  very 
few  mares,  but  to  have  none  except  such  as  had 
won  a  classic  stake.  Then  he  bred  these  mares 
to  the  best  winners  of  classic  stakes.  In  other 
words,  he  selected  the  best  winners  he  could  get 
and  bred  them  to  the  best  winners  he  could  find. 
Such  a  course  will  be  disappointing,  but  in  the 
long  run  it  must  necessarily  keep  a  man  as  near 
the  front  as  any  rule  would  carry  him.  For  ex- 
ample, if  he  had  followed  the  rule  in  pointers,  he 
would  probably  have  a  continuous  line  of  breed- 
ing from  Trinket's  Bang,  King  of  Kent,  Duke  of 
Hessen,  Rip  Rap,  and  Jingo.  In  setters,  his 
line  would  be '  from  Gladstone,  Count  Noble, 
Roderigo,  Count  Gladstone  IV,  Antonio,  and 
Tony  Boy.  Of  course,  he  might  have  been  led 
off  by  breeding  to  such  dogs  as  Wun  Lung, 
Topsy's  Rod,  and  Rowdy  Rod,  all  of  which  were 
brilliant  dogs  but  inferior  as  producers.  Still,  on 
the  whole  he  would  have  been  successful. 


Breeding  249 

There  is  another  breeding  rule  of  equal  horse 
sense  value.  That  is  to  get  what  the  noted 
breeder  and  trainer,  Andy  Gleason,  used  to  call 
"  old  pie  "  bitches.  Gleason  meant  those  females 
which,  without  any  apparent  reason,  have  the 
quality  of  reliably  producing  high-class  dogs,  no 
matter  how  mated.  Gleason  himself  had  one  of 
this  kind  in  Don's  Nellie.  Dave  Rose  had  one 
in  Lady  May.  Titus  had  one  in  Betty  B.  All 
of  these  were  setters.  Pearl's  Dot  is  an  example 
in  pointers,  and  Mr.  Lowe's  White  Lips  the  most 
conspicuous  in  greyhounds.  Perhaps  the  best 
advice  in  breeding  is  that  the  breeder  should 
secure  bitches  of  this  kind.  Neither  I  nor  any- 
body else  could  tell  him  where  to  get  them,  but 
the  advice  is  none  the  less  good.  Very  few  of 
the  "  old  pie  "  bitches  would  have  been  selected 
by  tape-line  critics.  Betty  B.  was  fairly  well  bred, 
but  she  weighed  less  than  thirty  pounds,  and 
would  have  been  rejected  by  any  theorist.  White 
Lips  was  not  fashionably  bred  as  Englishmen 
would  call  it,  but  she  reached  results  by  some 
inherent  virtue  of  reproduction. 

Mr.  Charles  Askins,  an  experienced  breeder 
and  handler  and  secretary  of  the  Handler's 
Association,  has  a  rule  that  the  important  thing 
in  breeding  is  to  know  what  the  sire  and  dam  are. 
As  he  puts  it,  a  man  can  take  chances  on  any- 
thing back  of  the  third  generation  if  the  sire  and 


250  The  Sporting  Dog 

dam  are  both  winners  of  vigorous  character.  Yet, 
against  Mr.  Askins's  convincing  illustrations,  one 
may  remember  the  experiment  of  Mr.  Hulman  of 
Indiana  and  Captain  O'Bannon  of  Virginia,  who 
organized  the  famous  Blue  Ridge  Kennel,  with 
Rose  as  trainer.  At  one  time  these  gentlemen 
had  almost  a  monopoly  of  the  great  setters  of  the 
country,  including  Gath's  Mark,  Gath's  Hope, 
Antonio,  and  Dan  Gladstone,  together  with  such 
matrons  as  Fannie  Murnan,  Lily  Burges,  Gossip, 
and  Laundress.  This  kennel  was  by  no  means 
a  failure,  and  the  experiments  produced  many 
winners;  but  it  sadly  disappointed  its  projectors. 
They  expected  to  turn  out  phenomena.  The 
blood  which  they  produced  is  still  valuable  in  field 
dog  kennels.  A  similar  experience  befell  the 
Manchester  Kennel,  at  the  head  of  which  was 
that  unrivalled  bird  finder.  Gleam's  Sport. 

When  considered  impartially,  the  breeding  of 
field  dogs  has  been  a  story  of  real  success.  There 
are  not  so  many  failures  as  the  pessimists  think, 
and  the  steady  progress  has  been  upward.  The 
average  has  been  remarkably  good.  It  must  be 
remembered  in  all  breeding  that  the  winners  are 
comparatively  few.  No  matter  how  good  the 
breeding  theory  and  practice,  the  dogs  which 
stand  out  as  superior  to  all  other  dogs  must  al- 
ways be  the  exceptions.  That  proposition  proves 
itself,  but  is  not  always  believed. 


Breeding  251 

There  is  an  inexorable  law  which  book  authori- 
ties do  not  seem  to  recognize.  It  is  the  law  which 
tends  unceasingly  to  a  reproduction  of  the  average 
quality  of  the  breed.  It  constantly  pulls  upward 
to  the  average  and  constantly  pulls  down.  You 
can  take  all  the  phenomena  of  a  season  for 
breeding  purposes  and  the  chances  are  that  your 
result  will  be  merely  an  excellent  average  of  the 
breed.  Some  people  have  a  way  of  charging  this 
to  atavism.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  atavism,  or  the 
tendency  to  throw  back  to  some  remote  ancestor, 
is  not  as  threatening  as  the  talk  about  it  would 
indicate.  The  law  of  perpetuating  averages  is 
not  only  threatening,  but  it  is  ever  present  and 
eternal.  It  is  that  law  which  the  breeder  must 
recognize  and  reckon  with.  His  wonderful 
winners  will  come  along  occasionally ;  but  he 
must  understand  that,  whatever  his  breeding 
stock,  he  does  very  well  if  he  gets  results  up  to 
a  good  standard. 

Discussion  of  breeding  and  citation  of  facts  and 
illustrations  could  go  on  indefinitely;  but  this 
chapter  can  stop  at  no  better  place  than  with  the 
foregoing  statement  of  the  law  of  averages,  a 
law  of  such  force  that  the  greatest  individual  dog 
cannot  often  raise  the  level,  while  despised  indi- 
viduals can  gain  posthumous  laurels  through  the 
greatness  of  their  children.  The  only  practical 
application  of  the  law  is  to  use  the  best  individ- 


252  The  Sporting  Dog 

uals  of  the  best  descent,  and  then  be  prepared 
for  anything. 

Breeding  is  all  a  matter  of  probabilities.  The 
skilful  breeder  minimizes  the  danger  of  defects. 
When  he  gets  a  fine  specimen  all  the  world  hears 
him  "holler."  When  he  gets  a  dozen  plugs  he 
remembers  that  silence  is  golden ;  he  shuns  fame. 
Even  about  his  fine  ones  his  hindsight  is  better 
than  was  his  foresight  as  to  how  he  did  the  trick. 
And  this  is  the  art  and  science  of  breeding. 

Mendel's  law  is  the  present  sensation  among 
students  of  heredity.  Any  one  who  expects  to 
acquire  trustworthy  knowledge  of  the  rules  under 
which  nature  conducts  inheritance  must  watch 
the  labors  of  the  investigators  who  are  developing 
the  Mendel  discovery.  Mendel  gave  it  out  years 
ago,  but  the  scientific  world  is  just  making  use  of 
his  work.  Roughly  stated,  Mendel's  law  is  that 
when  certain  plants  are  crossbred,  and  the  de- 
scendants are  interbred,  a  proportion  will  have 
the  prepotency  of  one  ancestor,  a  proportion  that 
of  the  other,  and  a  proportion  a  combination  of 
both.  In  other  words,  the  crossbred  form  is  not 
permanent.  How  far  the  law  applies  to  animals 
has  not  at  this  time  been  ascertained.  But  at 
least,  the  Mendel  law  bids  fair  to  completely 
upset  some  of  the  most  tenaciously  held  deduc- 
tions of  old  writers,  who  thought  that  when  they 
said  "  like  produces  like  "  they  could  make  their 


Breeding  253 

corollaries  and  multiply  their  factors  as  if  they 
were  dealing  with  inanimate  paints  or  building 
material.  The  law  seems  to  deny  most  of  the  old 
notions  about  inbreeding,  or  to  call  for  new  ex- 
planations. Whatever  the  inquiry  may  settle, 
the  lecturer  on  the  "science  of  breeding"  must 
pause  until  the  limits  of  Mendel's  law  are  deter- 
mined by  verified  observation. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

BENCH    SHOWS    AND    FIELD    TRIALS 

Public  competitions  are  the  only  means  of 
determining  accurately  the  qualities  of  horses  or 
dogs  used  in  sport.  Private  competitions  might 
answer  the  same  purpose,  but  no  dependence  can 
be  placed  upon  the  information  which  comes  from 
such  surroundings.  It  grows  too  fast  between 
point  of  origin  and  written  history.  Even  in  the 
case  of  public  competitions  and  public  records 
the  two  elements  of  personal  ignorance  and  per- 
sonal bias  cannot  be  eliminated.  Publicity,  how- 
ever, usually  produces  enough  of  checks  and 
attrition  to  furnish  a  reasonably  reliable  record 
in  the  long  run. 

So  definite  is  the  comparative  value  of  public 
competitions,  that  I,  for  one,  have  little  faith  in 
the  opinions  on  sporting  dogs  formed  prior  to 
the  introduction  of  field  trials  and  bench  shows 
in  England.  I  have  seen  and  read  too  many 
foolish  tales  from  well-meaning  but  narrow  imagi- 
nations to  pay  much  attention  to  a  comparative 
judgment  formed  without  opportunities  of  com- 
parison.    There  was  a  great  deal  of  good  breed- 

254 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        iss 

ing  before  the  days  of  public  competition,  but  it 
was  irregular  and  not  severely  tested.  There 
may  have  been  a  few  superlative  specimens. 
Even  so  much,  however,  I  would  accept  with 
doubt. 

In  the  case  of  greyhounds  the  record  of  prog- 
ress is  plain  enough  since  the  establishment  of 
the  institutional  public  event,  the  Waterloo  Cup, 
three-quarters  of  a  century  ago.  At  that,  there 
are  plenty  of  ignorant  people  who  think  that 
there  never  has  been  a  second  Master  McGrath 
or  Coomassie,  though,  by  what  I  should  regard 
as  a  safe  gauge,  it  may  be  assumed  that  neither 
of  those  animals  would  last  through  the  second 
round  of  a  modern  Waterloo  running. 

In  foxhounds,  also,  a  sufificiently  progressive 
standard  may  have  been  fixed  by  the  constant 
competition  of  hounds  in  the  great  semi-public 
packs  of  the  English  hunting  counties.  In 
America  the  foxhound  has  been  largely  devel- 
oped by  a  survival  of  the  fittest  in  private  con- 
tests. That,  to  again  insist,  does  not  produce  a 
great  deal  of  confidence  in  the  neighborhood 
reputation  of  certain  hounds.  A  record  of  supe- 
riority is  not  standard  until  it  becomes  public. 

The  student  of  sporting  dogs  will  hear  a  great 
deal  of  discontent  with  bench  shows  and  field  trials, 
but,  v/hatever  the  drawbacks  may  be,  he  will  con- 
tinue his  studies  in  their  records. 


256  The  Sporting  Dog 

The  first  bench  show  in  America  was  held  at 
Mineola,  New  York, in  1874,  in  connection  with  the 
Queens  County  Agricultural  Fair.  It  was  princi- 
pally made  up  of  shooting  dogs.  Mr.  Orgill,  who 
had  a  handsome  family  of  small  pointers,  was  one 
of  the  principal  exhibitors.  The  first  West- 
minster Kennel  Club  show  was  held  in  1876,  and 
that  association  has  thenceforward  been  recog- 
nized as  the  leading  factor  in  bench  shows. 

In  fact,  I  believe  that  it  is  the  only  club  which 
has  had  a  permanent  financial  success.  The 
dog  public  is  a  small  part  of  the  population  in 
America,  if  we  count  only  those  who  care  for  the 
fine  points  of  the  breeds.  In  the  last  analysis  it  is 
men  of  European  birth  who  really  sustain  Ameri- 
can bench-show  activity.  The  history  of  bench 
shows  in  a  community  usually  is  that  the  first 
one  which  is  held  after  a  period  of  desuetude  is 
a  pecuniary  success,  since  the  general  love  of 
novelty  and  the  friendliness  of  the  newspapers 
move  a  crowd.  Then,  from  season  to  season,  the 
affair  dwindles,  and  finally  the  club  goes  out  of 
existence.  Four  or  five  years  pass,  and  another 
nucleus  of  enthusiasts  launches  a  new  bench- 
show  club  to  go  through  the  same  experience. 

In  the  early  days  sporting  dogs  constituted  the 
important  part  of  the  exhibits.  Of  late  years  the 
owners  of  sporting  dogs  have  paid  more  attention 
to  trials  on  game  and  have  neglected  bench  shows. 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        isi 

This  has  always  been  true  of  greyhound  men  and 
has  lately  become  equally  characteristic  of  field 
dog  and  hound  owners.  Meanwhile,  the  interest 
in  fancy  breeds  has  rapidly  developed,  and  it  is  now 
the  collies,  Boston  terriers,  pet  spaniels,  and  fox- 
terriers  which  are  the  large  entries  and  which 
attract  attention. 

For  a  long  time  the  classes  of  bench  shows 
were  under  A.  K.  C.  jurisdiction  made  up  in  each 
breed  of  pupp}^  open,  and  challenge  classes.  A 
dog  got  into  the  challenge  class  after  a  certain 
number  of  wins  in  the  open  class,  and  became  a 
champion  after  a  certain  number  of  wins  in  the 
challenge  class.  This  classification  fell  into  dis- 
favor because,  by  taking  a  moderate  specimen 
around  to  the  smaller  shows  where  there  was 
little  competition,  it  was  easy  to  create  a  cham- 
pion and  mislead  those  who  trusted  the  bench 
shows  for  records  of  excellence.  The  present 
system  is  puppy,  novice,  limit,  open,  and  winners 
classes.  The  limit  class  is  for  those  which  have 
only  done  a  certain  amount  of  winning;  the 
open  class  is  for  any  dog  without  regard  to  win- 
nings ;  the  award  of  winner  is  made  to  the  best  dog 
taken  from  the  open,  limit,  and  novice  classes.  In 
other  words,  the  winner  in  each  of  these  classes 
is  put  into  the  ring  and  the  best  dog  is  picked. 
The  championship  is  achieved  after  a  certain  num- 
ber of  wins  in  the  winners  class.  When  the  winners 


258  The  Sporting  Dog 

class  was  first  adopted  by  the  American  Kennel 
Club,  the  championship  followed  a  certain  number 
of  wins,  all  shows  being  on  the  same  footing. 
Later  was  devised  the  present  system  of  grading 
the  shows  according  to  the  number  of  entries, 
and  crediting  the  candidate  for  a  championship 
with  a  certain  number  of  points  according  to  the 
number  of  entries.  An  attempt  was  recently 
made  to  grade  the  shows  according  to  the  amount 
of  money  offered  in  prizes,  but  many  exhibitors 
disapproved  and  the  project  was  for  the  time 
postponed. 

Field  trials  followed  quickly  the  importation  of 
English  winning  pointers  and  setters.  The  chief 
interest  developed  in  the  central  West,  though 
the  New  York  and  other  Eastern  people  also  early 
began  their  field  trial  competition.  At  first  the 
entries  were  a  miscellaneous  lot,  which  would 
excite  amusement  if  they  appeared  before  latter- 
day  judges.  Irish,  Gordon,  crossbred,  and  native 
English  setters,  most  of  them  merely  pet  shooting 
dogs,  appeared  together.  At  the  beginning  the 
system  was  to  judge  according  to  the  number  of 
points.  Five  points  was  made  the  standard,  and 
the  dogs  which  made  five  points  were  taken  into 
the  second  series.  That  rule  soon  reduced  itself 
to  absurdity,  since  a  very  cheap  dog  of  fairly  good 
nose  could,  with  a  bit  of  luck  or  alert  handling, 
get  his  five  points,  while  a  high-class  dog  would 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        259 

throw  himself  out  by  a  flush.  The  field  trial  men 
then  introduced  the  "  heat "  system,  in  which  they 
followed  the  rule  of  coursing.  That  is,  when  the 
braces  were  drawn,  each  dog  which  beat  his  com- 
petitor was  carried  into  the  next  series,  and  so  on. 
This,  however,  w^as  found  not  to  work  satisfacto- 
rily, since  by  the  drawing  of  two  first-rate  dogs 
together,  or  by  a  difference  in  conditions,  or  by 
accidents,  the  best  dogs  in  a  stake  were  frequently 
beaten.  The  "  spotting  "  system  was  then  adopted 
and  prevails  to-day.  The  field  rules  of  most 
clubs  call  for  three  judges.  The  dogs  are  drawn 
in  braces  by  lot  and  are  put  down  in  that  order  for 
the  first  series.  The  judges  then  pick  out,  with- 
out regard  to  any  special  number,  the  dogs  which 
they  think  have  class  enough  to  be  among  the 
winning  probabilities.  Further  running  is  left  to 
the  discretion  of  the  judges,  who  run  the  animals 
in  braces  or  singly  in  order  to  satisfy  themselves 
of  the  comparative  merits.  Shooting  is  rarely  re- 
quired in  field  trials  at  present.  The  judges,  how- 
ever, sometimes  order  the  handler  to  shoot  over 
a  point  in  order  to  test  the  dog.  In  most  trials 
the  heats  are  from  twenty  to  forty  minutes.  In 
the  principal  championship  stakes  the  rules 
usually  require  the  heats  to  be  three  hours  long. 
In  all  trials  the  judges  are  required  to  insist  upon 
the  quality  of  performance  and  not  the  mere  num- 
ber of  points.     They  are  instructed  to  look  for 


26o  The  Sporting  Dog 

bird  sense,  as  well  as  for  speed  and  range,  but  are 
warned  against  stress  upon  retrieving,  that  being 
an  artificial  and  not  a  natural  performance. 

I  should  advise  every  one  who  desires  to  be 
informed  about  field  dogs  to  attend  a  few  of  these 
public  trials.  He  will  find  an  agreeable  lot  of 
sportsmen  and  will  learn  a  great  deal  about  the 
qualities  of  dogs  which  he  would  never  discover 
from  the  reports  or  even  from  personal  conversa- 
tions with  actual  spectators.  Not  that  the  reports 
are  usually  anything  but  accurate,  but  that  they 
necessarily  assume  a  foundation  of  knowledge  on 
the  part  of  the  reader.  I  have  found  that  people 
who  depend  upon  reading  or  hearsay  grossly  ex- 
aggerate the  faults  and  shortcomings  of  these 
field  trial  dogs.  They  do  not  realize  that  the 
standard  of  judgment  is  beyond  comparison 
higher  and  more  severe  than  that  applied  to 
everyday  dogs.  It  would  also  be  a  valuable  edu- 
cation in  many  respects  if  the  student  would 
make  a  few  entries  in  public  trials  and  get  into 
the  competition  of  patrons.  He  cannot  learn  to 
estimate  dog  performance  in  any  other  way  so 
quickly  and  thoroughly.  At  the  same  time,  I 
should  warn  him  strongly  against  entering  second- 
rate  dogs  merely  through  good  nature  or  curiosity. 
Field  trial  clubs  are  anxious  to  get  as  many  entries 
as  possible  in  order  that  their  prizes  may  be  allur- 
ing, but  it  does  not  do  field  trials  any  good,  and  it 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        261 

makes  the  investigator  feel  a  bit  foolish  if  he  sends 
dogs  to  the  races  which  have  not  been  thoroughly 
tried  out  against  a  veteran  performer  of  standard 
merit.  Most  field  trial  patrons  have  gone  through 
this  disagreeable  experience,  and  the  beginner 
would  as  well  avoid  it  by  watchfully  trying  out 
his  candidates,  without  waiting  to  make  the  trials 
before  a  crowd. 

Both  field  trial  and  bench  judges  are  nearly 
always  honest  and  sincere.  They  are  far  from 
omniscient  and  have  their  notions ;  especially 
when  they  have  good  intentions  combined  with 
weak  memories  and  still  weaker  powers  of  dis- 
crimination ;  and  this  often  happens.  With  bench 
judging  there  is  not  much  dissatisfaction  —  except 
where  type  is  a  standing  dispute  —  of  a  justified 
kind.  The  best  dog  nearly  always  gets  the  blue 
ribbon,  the  doubt  arising  oftener  over  the  second 
and  third  places. 

Field  trial  owners  have  more  incompetence  to 
meet,  at  least  more  inconsistencies  and  unac- 
countable fancies.  The  association  of  handlers 
have  asked  that  clubs  give  consideration  to  a  list 
of  judges  approved  by  handlers  as  representatives 
of  the  owners.  Possibly  a  definite  and  intelligible 
system  of  judging  will  grow  out  of  this  effort. 
Heretofore  it  has  been  discouraging  for  owners 
to  encounter  this  week  judges  who  are  tickled  by 
style,  next  week  lovers  of  speed  and  range  and  the 


262  The  Sporting  Dog 

week  after  sticklers  for  carefulness  in  locating 
birds.  The  most  demoralizing  judges  are  those 
who  have  in  their  minds  no  fixed  rules  at  all,  but 
divide  up  the  awards  as  politicians  distribute 
nominations  —  to  satisfy  geography  and  various 
interests.  Still,  judges  seldom  pick  a  poor  dog, 
and  at  the  end  of  every  season  the  best  ones  are 
found  to  have  done  the  most  winning.  Granting 
this,  it  is  likely  that  field  trials  will  begin  to  de- 
cline, —  as  coursing  invariably  does  in  such  a  case, 
—  unless  the  owners  find  judges  upon  whose 
mental  processes  as  well  as  moral  intent  they  can 
rely  with  some  certainty.  A  step  toward  a  more 
reliable  method  would  be  to  abandon  the  three- 
judge  custom  at  field  trials  and  employ  one  judge, 
giving  him  power  to  select  his  own  assistants  to 
follow  different  dogs.  As  the  practice  now  goes, 
winners  are  often  selected  by  the  judge  who  has 
the  most  of  that  petty  self-assertion  so  commonly 
found  in  company  with  narrow  comprehension ; 
or  by  a  compromise  in  which  each  judge's  first 
choice  is  set  back  for  a  dog  not  really  first-class, 
but  good  enough  for  a  sort  of  "nobody  objects" 
agreement.  Progress  and  experience  may  be  ex- 
pected to  adjust  these  tribunal  troubles,  which, 
after  all,  only  show  that  high-class  dogs  are  more 
abundant  than  they  used  to  be  at  field  trials,  and 
that  finer  powers  of  analysis  are  demanded  to 
determine  the  many  close  contests. 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        0.6:^ 

The  rapid  vogue  of  coursing  in  San  Francisco 
was  measurably,  if  not  chiefly,  due  to  the  unshak- 
able faith  of  owners  and  public  in  not  only  the 
bo7ia  fides,  but  the  mens  cequa  of  the  judge,  John 
Grace.  When  a  field  trial  owner  invests  $250  or 
$300  apiece  in  a  string  of  young  setters  or  pointers, 
he  likes  to  know  what  to  expect,  and  he  will  not 
repeat  the  trouble  and  expense  if  the  judging  is 
unreliable  and  inconsistent.  One  umpire,  referee, 
or  judge  is  the  best  system  in  all  contests  of  sport. 
Field  trials  will  almost  certainly  come  to  the  gen- 
eral conclusion  of  experience. 

Including  Canada  and  California,  the  recog- 
nized public  field  trials  number  annually  about 
twenty-five  on  quail  and  chicken,  with  four  or  five 
for  the  beagles,  and  at  least  two,  one  in  New  Eng- 
land and  one  in  Kentucky,  for  foxhounds.  The 
circuit  on  birds  begins  in  August  with  the  chicken 
trials  of  the  Iowa  or  Nebraska  clubs  and  moves 
later  over  into  Canada,  keeping  the  handlers  busy 
for  several  weeks,  though  most  of  them  take  a 
rest  before  the  quail  trials  open  in  Ohio  about  the 
middle  of  October.  The  state  clubs  run  along 
until  the  first  of  December,  the  Interstate  Cham- 
pionship, now  called  the  American  Championship, 
for  winners,  being  decided  at  the  conclusion  of 
the  state  events.  The  "big"  private  clubs,  the 
Eastern  and  the  United  States,  have  held  trials  re- 
spectively in  North  Carolina  and  near  the  Tennes- 


264  The  Sporting  Dog 

see-Mississippi  line.  Just  after  the  United  States 
trial,  usually  about  the  first  of  February,  what  its 
members  call  "  the  "  championship  has  been  com- 
ing off.  This  is  the  event  which  has  been  won 
by  Tony's  Gale,  Joe  Gumming,  Lady's  Gount 
Gladstone,  Sioux,  and  Geneva.  It  is  a  special 
club,  not  under  any  other  body,  but  the  win- 
ning of  the  stake  has  so  far  been  esteemed  the 
crowning  performance  of  each  season.  The  title 
of  this  body  is  now  the  National  Ghampionship 
Association. 

Lately  there  has  been  a  movement  to  consoli- 
date the  American,  —  Interstate,  —  the  Ganadian, 
and  the  National  championships,  so  that  an  un- 
disputed winner  may  be  crowned  each  year.  But 
some  differences  of  opinion  and  some  incon- 
veniences of  travel  will  probably  operate  against 
any  stable  plan  of  concentrating  on  one  field  dog 
championship.  One  or  another  championship 
association  may  dissolve,  —  the  finances  being  a 
burden  when  entries  are  so  limited,  —  and  thus 
leave  a  single  trial  supreme  for  a  season,  but 
others  will  arise,  for  reasons  of  geography  and  the 
convenience  of  owners. 

None  of  these  associations  has  an  extensive 
membership  or  the  elements  of  permanence.  In 
effect  they  are  little  more  than  agencies  for  the 
owners  and  handlers.  Their  funds  consist  almost 
wholly  of  entrance  fees.     Most  of  them  consist  of 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        265 

a  president  and  a  secretary,  with  one  or  two  active 
helpers  from  the  scanty  membership.  The  sec- 
retary does  most  of  the  management.  Even  the 
championship  clubs  lack  stability  and  coherence. 
In  1902,  for  the  American  Championship  Associ- 
ation, Mr.  James  Pease  of  Chicago  paid  a  large 
part  of  the  winnings  out  of  his  private  means.  In 
1903  the  stake  fell  through  altogether.  I  have 
heard  that  the  National  Championship  Club  costs 
Mr.  Hermxan  Duryea  $1000  a  year  as  a  personal 
contribution.  The  Eastern  Club  has  always  been 
the  strongest  of  the  field  trial  clubs,  but  in  its 
early  days  it  consisted  chiefly  of  Messrs.  James  L. 
Breese,  Pierre  Lorillard,  and  a  few  of  their  New 
York  friends.  Mr.  Lorillard  is  still  active,  with 
Mr.  George  Crocker  and  three  or  four  more  as 
his  dependable  associates.  Some  time,  it  is  fair 
to  assume,  the  field  trial  clubs  will  be  better 
organized  and  consolidated,  with  reliably  good 
grounds  and  systematic  management. 

Somebody  might  compile  a  key  to  the  relative 
meanings  of  adjectives  applied  to  sporting  per- 
formers. It  is  human  nature  to  connect  a  word 
with  its  significance  in  ordinary  affairs.  When 
they  read  that  a  race-horse  is  slow,  a  "  dog,"  or 
an  "  ice-wagon,"  people  cannot  always  remember 
that  the  comparison  is  with  the  greatest  winners 
and  not  with  common  private  stock.  Nor  can 
they  grasp   the  fact    that   every  horse   on   that 


266  The  Sporting  Dog 

particular  track  can,  in  condition,  do  a  mile  in  less 
than  I  :  40,  while  the  best  horse  on  the  track  could 
not  beat  i  :  38,  a  percentage  plenty  wide  for  bet- 
ting purposes,  but  very  narrow  as  related  to  horses 
in  general.  A  Yale  foot-ball  player  may  be  de- 
scribed as  the  weak  brother  of  the  team.  Readers, 
especially  those  who  know  little  of  the  game, 
easily  imagine  that  the  young  man  is  a  poor  speci- 
men among  other  young  men,  whereas  he  is  a 
picked  athlete,  and  weak  only  by  a  small  margin 
as  compared  with  the  three  or  four  other  men  in 
the  whole  land  who  play  the  position  better. 
Sporting  writers  are  compelled  to  pronounce  opin- 
ions within  the  respective  grades  of  performance, 
but  on  top  of  that  they  are  rather  more  of  the 
Sir  Oracle  than  is  wholly  necessary.  And  the 
worst  of  it  is  that  deductive  writers  pick  up  these 
reportorial  phrases  as  not  relative  but  absolute 
records,  and  deliver  dogmas  to  the  multitude 
about  inferiority  and  deterioration. 

The  corrective  is  to  remember  that  on  a  first- 
rate  race-track  every  horse  is  fast ;  that  when  the 
big  colleges  compete  in  foot-ball,  every  player  is  a 
selected  and  trained  man  ;  that  in  every  prominent 
field  trial  of  dogs  each  pointer  or  setter  has  been 
chosen  from  among  many  good  ones,  and  that  not 
even  a  yellow  ribbon  ever  goes  on  the  collar  of  an 
inferior  dog  at  one  of  the  big  bench  shows.  In 
the  presence  of  the  sophisticated  a  dabbler  would 


Bench  Shows  and  Field  Trials        267 

better  not  boast  too  much  about  what  his  neigh- 
borhood dogs  would  do  with  field  trial  winners. 
Somebody  may  call  for  demonstration ;  and  if  he 
tries  to  demonstrate,  he  will  be  quickly  reduced  to 
a  state  of  chumpish  confusion. 


SKETCHES   IN   THE   EAST   AND   WEST 

[These  little  tales  are  not  romances,  but  exact  recitals  —  as  to  the 
dogs  —  of  incidents  in  the  field.  It  is  hoped  that  they  convey  some 
useful  suggestions.] 

On  the  Eastu'n  Sho' 

"  I  des  gvvine  back  ter  de  Eastu'n  Sho', 
I  done  got  tiahd  o'  Bawltimo', 

'Ca'se  I'se  wuhkin'  hahd 

In  de  white  folks'  yahd, 
En'  I  don'  git  time  ter  res'  no  mo'." 

To  us  not  yet  of  the  toga  he  was  the  doctor ; 
to  the  young  voters  he  was  Doctor  Ed ;  to  those 
of  three  decades  he  was  Ed ;  to  the  venerable  he 
was  Eddy.  On  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland, 
where  the  families  are  as  old  as  the  land  boun- 
daries and  are  interrelated,  these  gradations,  mix- 
tures of  familiarity  with  recognition  of  dignity, 
are  understood. 

Once  a  season  the  doctor  shot  quail  on  the 
judge's  place.  The  old  man,  a  small  laird  in  his 
way,  lived  on  land  which  had  been  in  his  family 
since  the  Proprietary  times.  His  notion  of  tres- 
pass was  English  and  baronial.  Whether  he 
would  go  to  extremes  or  not  was  not  openly 
tested,  but  every  boy  and  poacher  believed  that 

268 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        269 

taking  gun  and  dog  on  the  judge's  domain  was 
fraught  with  more  danger  than  the  fun  was  worth. 
The  doctor  alone  had  the  passport,  and  because 
both  he  and  his  dogs  had  the  "  manners  of  gentle- 
men." He  was  a  physician,  just  old  enough  to 
be  settled  in  practice,  with  that  talent  for  repres- 
sion of  rougher  impulses  which  Eastern  Shoremen 
of  the  old  school  cultivated  early  in  life,  and  with 
that  firm  practical  purpose  in  all  he  did  which 
was  more  common  in  the  slave  states  than  fiction 
has  ever  explained.  I  was  a  lad  and  his  pupil  in 
wing  shooting. 

"  Come  along  to-morrow,"  he  said  to  me  one 
November  evening.  "  It's  the  time  to  have  my 
pet  day,  and  I'll  show  you  the  best  quail  shooting 
in  the  country  and  that  fine  old  gentleman,  Judge 
Winder,  at  home." 

It  was  before  the  advent  of  knowledge  about 
Llewellins  and  Laveracks.  The  doctor's  two 
setters  were  "natives,"  one  liver-and-white,  one 
lemon-and-white,  clean-cut,  bright-eyed,  and  lov- 
able. The  doctor  did  not  play  with  them.  Nor 
did  he  scold  or  strike.  When  he  spoke,  he 
meant  something  and  they  understood.  When 
he  did  not  speak,  they  knew  that  there  was  noth- 
ing to  do. 

At  a  quick  order  they  jumped  into  the  buggy 
and  lay  quietly.  We  drove  along  the  old  river 
road  for  a  jogging  hour.     A  couple  of  miles  away 


270  Tbe  Sporting  Dog 

from  the  destination  the  leader  of  the  expedition 
stopped  at  a  stubble  field. 

"  This  is  cousin  George's  farm,"  he  said. 
"  We'll  send  the  dogs  around  that  field.  They 
are  reliable  enough,  but  we  have  a  reputation 
with  the  judge  for  good  behavior,  and  it  won't 
hurt  to  take  off  the  edge  a  Httle.  Get  out,  Bob." 
And  a  minute  later,  "  Get  out,  Hicks." 

With  a  wave  of  the  hand  to  each,  "  Bob,  over ; 
Hicks,  over." 

One  after  the  other  they  scrambled  over  the 
rail  fence.  Then  a  sharp,  "  Ho !  "  Both  stopped. 
"  Bob ! "  and  a  wave  of  the  hand  to  the  right. 
"  Hicks ! "  a  wave  to  the  left.  Off  they  dashed, 
skirting  the  field  in  opposite  directions.  Bob 
stopped  at  a  bush  near  a  pine  thicket  which  was 
one  boundary  of  the  field.  The  doctor  picked 
up  his  gun. 

"  No,  it's  only  a  rabbit.  See  how  he  moves  his 
tail  and  peers  at  the  bush.     He'll  go  on." 

And  Bob  left  the  despised  cottontail  to  be 
trapped  by  the  country  boys  or  chased  by  the 
darkies'  hounds. 

But  the  thicket  was  good  cover  for  other  game, 
and  Bob  pointed  again,  this  time  stiffly  extended, 
with  eyes  strained  and  one  foot  raised. 

Again  the  sharp  order.  Hicks  stopped  short 
and  looked  around  inquiringly.  A  wave  of  the 
hand  brought  him  across  the  field.     Another  call. 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        271 

This  time  the  hand  went  straight  up,  warningly, 
and  Hicks  took  a  backing  position. 

"  Never  let  your  dog  make  a  mistake,  and  he 
won't  make  one,"  said  the  doctor.  That  sounded 
reasonable  and  called  for  no  remarks. 

Guns  ready,  we  walked  up  to  Bob's  point. 

"  You  do  the  shooting.  I  want  to  be  sure  on 
the  jump  that  the  dogs  don't  get  any  foolishness 
into  their  heads.     Walk  ahead  of  the  dog." 

With  the  nervousness  which  a  poor  shot  can't 
help  feeling  in  the  presence  of  a  master,  I  flushed 
the  birds ;  and  of  course  shot  too  soon.  I  had  a 
choke-bore  gun,  then  new  in  fashion  and  over- 
choked  for  quail.  But  I  hit  a  bird  and  saw 
something  fall. 

Like  the  dogs,  I  was  not  going  to  take  any 
liberties  with  the  doctor,  and  waited  for  orders. 

"  Bob  !  dead  ;  fetch."  Bob  followed  the  point- 
ing finger  and  came  to  the  fallen  bird.  But  he 
did  not  pick  it  up.  He  looked  and  then  looked 
again.  He  turned  to  the  doctor  for  light  on  the 
subject. 

"  What's  the  matter  ? "  The  doctor  went  up 
to  examine  before  rating  the  dog  for  disobedience. 
He  laughed. 

"  Well,  that  was  a  centre.     Come  here." 

The  load  from  my  choke-bore  had  struck  the 
bird  a  shade  high  and  along  the  back,  tearing  it 
into  a  mangled  strip  a  foot  long. 


272  The  Sporting  Dog 

"  I  agree  with  the  dog,"  laughed  my  men- 
tor. "  I  wouldn't  pick  up  such  a  butcher's  job. 
If  you're  going  to  use  that  gun  on  anything 
but  ducks  and  crows,  you'll  have  to  give  some 
distance." 

Meanwhile  Hicks  had  been  called  up.  They 
were  sent  across  the  field  again  without  results. 
We  returned  to  the  buggy  and  drove  on,  letting 
the  dogs  range  along  at  will,  though  the  doctor 
kept  an  eye  on  them.  As  we  approached  the 
judge's  big  swinging  gate  they  were  ordered  again 
into  the  buggy  and  lay  there,  panting,  but  quiet, 
as  we  drove  up  the  lane  to  the  roomy  old  white 
house.     The  judge  was  looking  for  us. 

"  Good  mornin',  Eddy.  Good  mornin',  young 
man.  Come  in,  come  in.  We'll  have  dinner  in 
a  few  minutes.  Sharp  at  twelve's  the  order  to 
Maria  to-day  for  the  hunters.  How's  your  wife, 
Eddy  ?  I  was  just  thinkin'  about  your  father  last 
night.     I'll  have  a  boy  watch  your  dogs." 

This  last  was  superfluous,  as  the  judge  knew. 
But  he  went  through  the  form. 

"  Never  mind  the  dogs,  judge.  They  will  stay 
in  the  buggy.     Just  put  the  horse  up  anywhere." 

He  held  up  a  finger  and  spoke  sternly  to  the 
dogs. 

"  Quiet,  now.  Mind."  The  buggy  moved  off 
to  the  big  stable  yard,  the  dogs  accepting  the 
situation  and  getting  ready  for  a  nap. 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        i-j:^ 

The  early  dinner  was  another  amiable  fraud. 
The  host  would  have  been  robbed  of  his  day  if 
we  had  not  been  ready  to  sit  for  two  hours  and 
give  him  all  the  county-seat  gossip  of  politics  and 
the  bodily  complaints  of  leading  citizens.  His 
judgeship  had  been  of  the  Orphan's  Court  —  the 
Maryland  probate  court.  After  the  old  landown- 
ing fashion,  he  had  not  been  trained  for  a  profes- 
sion, and  had  done  little  but  manage  his  not  too 
large  property  and  read  political  speeches.  In 
his  lonely  age,  slaves  gone  and  corn  prices  low, 
he  was  too  much  attached  to  the  land  to  sell,  and 
too  proud  to  move  to  town  with  his  few  hundreds 
of  cash  income.  He  believed  none  the  less 
stoutly  in  his  position  and  its  various  duties, — 
hospitality,  church,  and  politics  the  chief.  The 
period  had  many  such  pictures  of  dignity  and 
pathos,  as  the  old  order  lingered  in  the  new. 

First,  of  course,  we  must  range  up  to  the  side- 
board and  take  brandy  and  sugar,  the  brandy  of 
his  own  distilling  ten  years  before.  Then  the 
dinner  —  enough  for  ten.  The  judge's  two  hours 
went  rapidly.  All  three  of  us  were  related  to 
two-thirds  of  the  "  known  "  people  of  the  county 
and  to  each  other.  There  was  no  waiting  for 
topics.  But  the  old  gentleman  knew  his  obliga- 
tion to  a  hair. 

"Well,  well.  I'm  keepin'  you  from  your  gun- 
nin'  and  it  will  be  dark  before  you  get  to  shootin' 


274  The  Sporting  Dog 

right."  Eastern  Shoremen  used  to  rebuke  pre- 
ciseness  by  cutting  off  their  "  g's  "  as  well  as  their 
"r's." 

The  dogs  were  called,  and  the  judge  looked  at 
them  approvingly  as  they  stood  waiting  for  orders. 

"  If  all  the  huntin'  dogs  did  as  much  credit  to 
their  raisin'  as  Eddy's,  I  couldn't  have  the  heart 
to  •keep  'em  off  the  place,  I  reckon,  and  I  wouldn't 
have  a  bird  or  a  rabbit  left.  But  I  won't  stand 
these  fellows  who  come  prowlin'  around,  startin' 
the  sheep  to  runnin'  and  the  hens  to  cacklin,'  and 
the  whole  farm  to  makin'  noises.  I  had  an  egg- 
suckin'  darky  cur  killed  no  longer  back  than  last 
week.  That  Billy  Walker  is  the  only  one  of  these 
white  men  who  don't  pay  their  taxes  and  want  to 
use  other  men's  land  that  makes  me  sorry  I  don't 
let  him  come.  He  can  school  a  dog,  I'll  say  that. 
He's  got  a  pair  of  'beadles,'  as  he  calls  'em,  for 
rabbits,  and  a  little  rat-tailed  '  pinter '  gip  for  birds. 
I  don't  know  how  he  does  it,  but  he's  made  the 
beagles  hunt  without  yelping.  They'll  chase  rab- 
bits within  a  hundred  yards  of  your  house  and 
you'd  never  know  it.  Of  course,  Billy  don't  shoot 
too  close  to  a  house  when  he  isn't  wanted,  but  he 
can  crack  away  with  his  little  gun  in  a  back  field 
or  the  woods  and  nobody  knows  but  it's  somebody 
who's  got  business.  He  takes  his  '  beadles '  and 
his  '  pinter '  out  together,  and  when  he  comes  to  a 
rabbit  place  the  gip  just  walks  along  at  his  heels 


Sketches  in  I  he  East  and  IVest        275 

as  if  she  never  saw  a  gun.  If  it's  a  field  where 
birds  use,  then  she  goes  out,  and  the  beagles  fol- 
low Billy  and  never  try  to  get  ten  feet  away.  He's 
got  no  land  of  his  own  and  he  will  gun  around. 
Before  Christmas  he's  generally  got  all  the  rabbits 
and  birds  thinned  out  except  mine.  He  has  some 
respect  for  me  or  is  afraid  I'll  have  his  dogs  shot. 
But  these  farmers  who  do  their  own  work  he  just 
holds  as  natural  prey  for  a  gunner  who  has  sportin' 
blood." 

By  this  time  we  had  come  to  the  old  orchard, 
the  dogs  at  heel. 

"  One  at  a  time  is  best  for  them,"  said  the  doc- 
tor.    "Hicks!  g'wan!" 

The  dog  galloped  out,  following  the  hand  to 
the  right. 

"Bob!  g'wan!"  And  Bob  went  to  the  left 
along  a  fence  in  the  corners  of  which  were 
bushes  and  briers.  But  the  birds  were  resting 
in  the  centre  of  the  orchard,  where  four  or  five 
rails  had  been  left  irregularly  piled  across  one 
another.  After  ranging  along  the  sides,  stopping 
to  nose  out  a  bush  or  a  clump  of  grass,  as  the  old 
"  natives  "  nearly  always  did,  they  were  brought 
down  toward  us  through  the  trees.  The  liver- 
and-white  caught  scent  barely  in  time.  The 
birds  had  not  been  moving.  But  he  was  in  time 
and  froze  stiff,  the  other  backing  instantly.  The 
doctor  brought  down  two  birds,  and  I  punctured 


276  The  Sporting  Dog 

the  air.  Then  he  sent  a  dog  to  retrieve  each 
bird. 

The  judge  went  back  to  the  house,  after  tell- 
ing us  at  some  length  how  he  had  never  cared  for 
gunning,  but  had  done  some  "  fox  ridin' "  and 
helped  to  make  a  few  match  horse-races  of  county 
fame. 

We  shot  along  with  the  usual  variations  of  suc- 
cess but  with  no  mistakes  for  the  dogs.  Late  in 
the  afternoon  we  struck  a  weed  field  which  sloped 
to  a  marsh  bordering  the  river.  The  doctor  laughed 
oddly  as  he  expressed  a  wonder  whether  the  old 
field  had  any  birds. 

Bob  began  to  point,  crawling  along,  the  other 
dog  backing  and  creeping  a  dozen  paces  behind. 
I  was  on  tiptoe,  excited  and  expecting  something 
to  happen  every  second.  The  doctor  took  it  easy, 
being  unaccountably  contented,  as  I  afterward  re- 
called. The  time  seemed  a  quarter  of  an  hour. 
I  suppose  it  was  two  minutes.  As  we  came  to 
twenty  yards  from  the  marsh,  all  at  once  there 
arose  the  biggest  lot  —  I  can't  call  it  a  bevy  —  of 
quail  I  ever  saw  together,  or  ever  shall  see  unless 
I  go  to  California,  where  bevies  unite  into  colo- 
nies. My  own  nerves  were  unequal  to  the  sight, 
and  I  did  not  shoot  at  all.  The  doctor  clipped 
one  out  of  the  bunch  as  they  reached  the  marsh. 
After  it  was  retrieved  he  explained. 

"  This  field  always  gives  the  same  show,"  he 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        277 

said.  "  For  some  reason,  there  are  usually  about 
three  broods  here.  Sometimes  they  are  all  in  a 
flock  like  this,  sometimes  separate.  But  they 
always  run  ahead  of  the  dog  till  they  get  near  the 
marsh  and  take  refuge  scattered  on  the  tussocks. 
If  you  don't  mind  wetting  your  ankles,  we  can 
get  two  or  three  of  them,  though  they're  hard  to 
flush  out  there,  and  the  dogs  can't  find  them  with 
much  success." 

We  wet  our  ankles  and  got  the  two  or  three 
birds.  But  it  was  not  what  I  call  pleasant  shoot- 
ing, and  the  dogs  were  bothered  as  much  finding 
dead  birds  in  the  water  and  marsh  grass  as  we 
in  getting  through  the  mud. 

Going  around  the  other  side  of  the  farm,  we 
flushed  a  bevy  on  a  ditch  bank  grown  dense  with 
heavy  grass,  now  down  and  matted.  When  the 
dogs  were  ordered  on,  they  trotted  toward  the 
thicket  where  the  quail  had  taken  refuge,  nosing 
as  they  went.  Fidelity  to  history  compels  any 
annalist  to  say  that  the  dogs  of  the  good  old  times 
pottered  no  little  and  did  not  wander  so  far  that 
the  owner  of  a  ringing  voice  —  and  who  does  not 
know  the  long  and  musical  reach  of  the  "  hollers  " 
which  men  learn  when  they  hunt  a  fox  or  a  'coon 
at  night?  —  could  not  control  them  without  a 
whistle.  In  fact,  the  whistle  is  a  modern  innova- 
tion on  the  Eastern  Shore. 

Nosing,  then,    and    trotting   rapidly    but   cau- 


278  The  Sporting  Dog 

tiously,  Bob,  usually  the  leader,  stopped  to  a  posi- 
tive point  on  the  ditch  bank. 

"  There's  never  two  bunches  along  this  ditch," 
said  the  doctor,  doubtingly.  He  had  the  old 
farm's  capacity  well  conned. 

But  it  was  a  pdint  and  there  must  be  something. 
We  glided  forward.  Nothing  flushed.  The  dog 
still  pointed.  Walking  around  him  and  kicking 
the  grass,  we  could  still  raise  nothing.  The  master 
looked  for  a  terrapin,  a  roosting  place,  everything 
which  might  explain  the  insistent  point.  He  at 
last  spoke  a  regretful  and  reproachful  word  to 
Robert  and  called  him  on.  Bob  seemed  to  say, 
"Well,  if  you  can't,  I  will."  He  leaped  for- 
ward and  pounced  on  some  object  in  the  grass. 
This  was  the  worst  kind  of  knotty  Greek  to  me 
and  it  stumped  even  the  veteran.  We  could  see 
not  a  thing  to  explain  the  dog's  action.  He  would 
not  act  that  way  over  a  mole  or  field  mouse.  But 
he  was  right,  after  all.  Carefully  pulling  apart 
the  grass,  we  saw  the  brown  coat  of  a  quail.  It 
was  so  tightly  wedged  into  the  heavy  growth  that 
it  could  not  move.  Anything  but  a  flawless  nose, 
any  dog  of  the  overhurrying  kind,  would  have 
passed  it  by  and  turned  its  hiding  device  into  a 
brilliant  success.  Dropping  out  of  the  bevy  as 
the  others  spread  into  the  thicket,  the  bird  had 
dashed  into  an  opening,  only  to  find  itself  both 
caged  and  wing-locked. 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        279 

The  other  dog  had  his  turn  in  showing  us  a 
slightly  peculiar  experience.  Cantering  along  a 
growthy  old  hedge,  where  the  doctor  was  expecting 
to  raise  a  bevy  unless  we  should  get  it  in  the  ad- 
joining fields,  Hicks  came  to  a  stop,  evidently 
pointing,  but  with  that  "  not  just  for  keeps  "  air 
which  shooting  men  so  easily  distinguish  from  a 
decisive  point.  We  took  it  to  be  a  momentary 
rabbit  episode  and  made  no  haste.  As  we  drew 
near,  a  big  bird  rose  over  the  hedge.  After  a 
swift  glance,  the  doctor  let  drive.  With  a  broken 
wing  a  blue  hawk  flapped  to  the  ground ;  his 
angry,  fearless  eyes  seeming  to  snap  and  his  strong 
talons  ready  for  enemies.  While  my  companion 
started  to  jump  over  a  low  place  in  the  hedge  I 
thought  to  hold  the  dog.  But  Hicks  was  still 
pointing.  Following  the  direction  of  his  nose  I 
looked  into  the  hedge;  there  was  a  bunch  of 
feathers,  which,  I  soon  saw,  concealed  a  half-eaten 
quail.  When  the  hawk  was  killed  and  stowed 
away  to  become  a  stuffed  specimen,  the  doctor 
informed  me  that  he  had  never  before  seen  a  blue 
hawk  eat  his  prey  where  it  was  struck,  or  stick  to 
it  in  front  of  man  or  dog.  "  Must  have  been  sav- 
agely hungry,"  he  said. 

The  sun  was  by  that  time  low,  and  we  went 
back  to  the  judge  for  another  toddy,  a  supper, 
and  a  smoke.  And  then  the  ten-mile  drive  home 
in  the  cool,  drowsy  autumn  night. 


iSo  The  Sporting  Dog 

So  on  the  Eastu'n  Sho'  the  right  men  handled 
their  dogs  before  the  war,  and  after  the  war, 
while  the  old  generation  lasted.  The  fields  were 
small,  the  dogs  not  fast,  and  the  birds  none  too 
plentiful.  But  there  were  as  good  shots  as  ever 
lived,  and  genuine  sport.  Nor  have  the  right 
men  been  without  sons  to  shoot  and  not  shout; 
to  carry  mannerly  dogs,  or  none,  to  lands  where 
they  are  guests. 

In  the  "  Nation  " 

My  host  led  a  double  life.  Between  March  and 
October  he  was  a  thriving  farmer  and  stock-raiser. 
In  the  fall  and  winter  he  found  daily  sport  and 
not  a  little  profit  in  training  dogs.  In  the  eyes 
of  the  Indian  law  he  was  a  laborer  in  the  employ 
of  a  "citizen."  In  truth  he  was  the  master  of 
broad  acres  of  corn,  wheat,  and  pasture  land. 
Technically  the  land  right  w^as  held  by  the  mem- 
ber of  the  tribe,  no  outsider  having  the  privilege ; 
my  friend  was  his  hired  man.  But  that  con- 
venient legal  fiction  did  not  prevent  the  "  hired 
man  "  from  managing  the  great  farm,  or  series  of 
farms,  as  if  he  were  the  proprietor,  the  nominal 
cultivator  only  receiving  a  share  of  the  proceeds 
for  his  good  luck  in  being  a  citizen  of  the 
"  nation." 

It  was  a  perfect  country  for  the  training  of  dogs. 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  Vilest        281 

Quail  were  abundant,  prairie  chicken  not  at  all 
scarce,  and  woodcock  came  along  twice  a  year 
in  fair  numbers.  As  for  snipe,  there  is  little 
ground  left  in  the  States  which  can  afford  snipe 
shooting  to  be  compared  with  the  spring  sport  in 
parts  of  the  territory.  Broad,  level  prairies  per- 
mitted the  most  ambitious  dog  to  show  his  range. 
Patches  of  corn  well  dried  by  October  were  fa- 
vorite feeding  spots  for  both  chicken  and  quail  and 
taught  the  dogs  to  come  in  close  and  proceed 
with  caution  ;  while  the  many  damp  ravines  or 
"  draws,"  often  thick  with  good-sized  trees  and 
bushes,  were  training  schools  of  the  same  kind. 
When  the  weather  was  added  to  the  other  attrac- 
tions —  the  clear  skies  and  dry  air  of  October  and 
November  in  the  territory  are  the  perfection  of 
climate  if  there  is  anywhere  perfection  —  the 
place  was  a  happy  hunting  ground  good  enough 
for  a  shooting  man  who  could  choose  immortality 
and  forbid  civilization  to  disturb  the  status. 

My  entertainer's  dog  reputation  tended  as  far 
North  as  Chicago  and  as  far  East  as  Memphis. 
He  had  acquired  special  repute  for  correcting 
faults  which  ignorant  trainers  or  thoughtless 
owners  had  produced.  This  kind  of  fame  was  an 
annoyance.  As  he  put  it,  he  hardly  ever  saw  a 
dog  of  unblemished  character  any  more.  Most  of 
his  training  season  was  filled  with  work  on  the 
reformation  of  criminals.     In  the  wire  enclosure 


282  The  Sporting  Dog 

behind  the  house  would  often  be  thirty  or  forty 
dogs,  ahnost  every  one  the  possessor  of  a  de- 
spised vice.  There  were  bolters,  blinkers,  and  bird 
eaters  ;  there  were  the  gun-shy,  the  jealous,  and  the 
savage.  However,  most  of  them  belonged  to  men 
who  had  money  to  spend  ;  and  the  director  of  this 
odd  reform  school  had  a  cool  philosophy  of  life 
for  himself,  as  well  as  that  imperturbable  patience 
which  conquered  the  dog  rascals.  He  did  his 
work  well  and  charged  well.  It  cost  him  little 
to  keep  the  dogs  and  every  year  he  laid  away  in 
bank  a  useful  addition  to  his  farm  revenues. 

When  I  woke  at  six  o'clock  in  the  morning  it 
was  to  hear  a  repetition  of  decisive  commands 
ringing  out  in  the  quiet  dawn.  "  Halt !  "  "  Go 
on  !  "  "  Pick  it  up !  "  "  Come  in  !  "  I  found  the 
professor  at  work  on  a  pupil  in  an  enclosure  forty 
feet  square,  wired  off  as  a  training  yard.  The  dog 
was  a  two-year-old  pointer,  never  before  handled. 
A  check-cord  kept  him  under  control.  The  lesson 
was  in  retrieving. 

"  I'll  tell  you  the  biggest  secret  of  training,"  said 
the  tutor  as  he  paused  for  a  few  minutes.  "  Once 
make  a  dog  stop  to  order  without  question,  and 
you've  got  him.  To  teach  anything  else  comes 
easy;  because,  in  the  first  place,  you  can  make 
him  see  what  you  want,  and  then  you  have  him 
where  he  is  already  admitting  your  power  instead 
of  rollicking  off  on  business  of  his  own.     I  find 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        283 

that  the  army  people  fastened  on  a  good  word 
when  they  selected  'halt'  It  is  sharp  and  clear 
and  unlike  other  words.  I  use  it  always  and  in- 
struct my  customers  to  keep  it  up  on  dogs  that  I 
have  handled." 

He  turned  to  his  labors.  The  pointer  was  un- 
willing and  sulky,  but  the  more  he  sulked  the 
more  positive  the  discipline.  "  Go  on ! "  The 
dog  would  crouch  and  refuse,  but  a  touch  of 
the  whip  would  send  him  on.  When  halfway 
to  the  corner  where  lay  the  retrieving  pad,  he 
would  hear  the  call  "  Halt !  "  Then  "  Go  on  !  " 
Then  "  Halt ! "  So  two  or  three  times  until 
he  reached  the  pad.  "  Pick  it  up ! "  Grudg- 
ingly and  mincingly  he  took  the  pad  in  his 
mouth.  "  Come  in  !  "  and  the  cord  was  drawn  in 
fast,  hand  over  hand.  "  Sit  down  !  "  He  went  on 
his  haunches.  "  Deliver !  "  He  rose  and  held  the 
pad  to  his  tormentor  and  preceptor. 

"  All  this  repeating  looks  foolish  to  you,  maybe," 
said  the  trainer;  "but  I've  been  over  it  twenty 
times  already  with  this  dog  and  will  go  over  it 
fifty  times  more.  In  two  weeks  he  will  forget 
all  this  sulkiness  and  be  getting  fun  out  of  the 
thing.  It's  peculiar  how  much  pleasure  a  dog 
finds  in  the  mere  faithful  obedience  to  a  com- 
mand when  he  learns  that  he  is  pleasing  you  and 
doing  something  in  the  way  of  a  game  with  you 
for  a  partner." 


284  The  Sporting  Dog 

We  had  breakfast  and  the  conveyance  was 
brought  up,  a  roomy  spring  wagon,  the  body 
of  which,  beyond  the  one  front  seat,  was  filled 
with  a  big,  light  crate,  capable  of  holding  eight 
or  ten  dogs.  Two  horses,  of  course.  In  the 
territory  nobody  ever  did,  as  far  as  known,  drive 
one  horse. 

"  We  will  go  out  about  six  miles  to  Duck  Creek. 
I  don't  like  to  work  dogs  where  there  are  fences. 
You  can't  follow  them  so  well." 

So  we  plunged  down  the  steep  bank  of  the  little 
river  which  ran  through  the  ranch,  and  scrambled 
up  the  opposite  steep  bank,  and  struck  out.  Any- 
body could  see  that  there  would  be  quail  all  about, 
but  we  were  not  merely  after  quail  and  the  wire 
fences  were  too  many  near  the  small  settlement 
on  one  side  of  which  was  my  friend's  land. 

When  we  struck  the  open  country  it  was  a 
rolling  prairie,  a  draw  running  through  the  cen- 
tre. Two  of  the  dogs  were  put  down,  both  set- 
ters, one  of  which,  as  the  trainer  said,  did  not 
retrieve  at  all,  and  the  other  a  vast  deal  too  much. 
Both  ranged  out  far  and  fast,  working  their  way 
toward  the  draw.  We  hurried  along  after  them, 
bumping  over  the  roadless  prairie,  w^hich  was  not 
as  smooth  as  it  seemed.  One  of  the  dogs  at- 
tracted my  attention  by  running  backward  and 
forward  in  long  casts  over  the  same  ground.  I 
asked  what  he  was  about. 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        285 

"  He's  blinking.  There  are  birds  and  he  won't 
leave  them,  but  he  won't  point  while  he  sees  you. 
He  doesn't  trust  strangers.  He  was  thrashed 
severely  several  times  when  a  pup  for  flushing, 
and  he  connected  the  punishment  with  the  birds 
in  his  way  of  thinking.  He's  a  brother  to  King's 
Rod.  You  know  Rod  was  going  to  be  one  of 
the  great  champions,  but  he  got  handler-shy  for 
the  same  reason.  It  took  John  L.  Barker  a 
whole  season  to  drive  the  fear  of  birds  out  of 
Rod.  All  that  Kingston  litter  were  extremely 
sensitive  to  punishment.  You  take  the  team  and 
pretend  you  are  driving  off.  I'll  get  down  and 
see  whether  Dick  won't  point." 

Sure  enough,  when  I  turned  the  team  away, 
Dick  cut  his  eye  at  me  and  gradually  drew  on 
a  bevy  of  quail.  When  flushed,  they  scattered, 
near  the  draw.  The  trainer  did  not  shoot,  ex- 
plaining that  he  wished  to  have  Tony  under 
control  before  a  bird  fell.  Each  dog  began  to 
make  single  points  rapidly.  At  every  flush  Tony 
would  look  eagerly  for  the  bird  to  drop.  With 
a  dozen  singles  thus  located  in  the  draw,  Dick 
was  returned  to  the  wagon  and  Tony  left  with 
the  trainer. 

"  Get  down  and  watch  this  crazy  retriever." 
We  left  the  wagon  standing  and  took  up  Tony's 
case.  A  single  point  in  the  draw,  a  plain  flight, 
a  clean  shot,  and  a  dead  bird.     It  had  scarcely 


286  The  Sporting  Dog 

touched  the  ground  before  Tony  was  after  it.  He 
jumped  on  it  in  a  frenzy  and  began  to  crunch  it. 
All  the  trainer's  "  Halts  "  had  no  effect.  The  bird 
was  rescued  in  bad  condition.  ^ 

'*'  I  shouldn't  have  let  him  go,  but  I  wanted  you 
to  see  how  bad  an  eager  dog,  which  naturally 
retrieves,  can  be  made  by  a  man  who  is  excited 
about  getting  hold  of  every  bird  that  falls.  Some 
dogs  soon  begin  to  think  of  retrieving  and  nothing 
else.  This  is  the  worst  I  ever  saw,  but  any  high- 
strung  dog  can  be  spoiled  when  young  by  too 
much  hurry  in  recovering  birds." 

Next  time  a  check-cord  was  snapped  quietly 
on  Tony's  collar  when  he  pointed.  And  he  did 
point  superbly,  — perfect  nose  and  immovable  posi- 
tion. The  bird  was  flushed  and  killed.  At  the 
instant  of  firing  the  trainer  called, "  Halt !  "  Tony 
heeded  nothing  but  the  bird.  But  when  he 
reached  the  length  of  the  cord,  he  jerked  himself 
off  his  feet.  "  Halt ! "  again  rang  out  twice. 
Tony  came  to  his  senses  and  stood  ashamed. 
There  was  no  whipping.  The  dog  was  led 
quietly  to  the  bird,  being  compelled  to  stop  three 
or  four  times  on  the  way.  When  he  reached  the 
spot,  he  was  still  not  allowed  to  pick  up  the  bird, 
but  several  times  checked  within  a  foot.  Finally 
the  order  to  retrieve  was  given  and  sedately 
executed.  The  lesson  was  repeated  several  times, 
and  in  a  half-hour  Tony  was,  though  not  cheer- 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        287 

ful  about  it,  stopping  at  command  and  retrieving 
to  order  for  the  time  being. 

We  moved  over  to  a  part  of  the  prairie  where 
the  draw  began  to  be  a  creek  bottom  and  a  long 
strip  of  corn  ran  out  from  a  small  farm-house. 
Here  was  where  we  were  to  find  some  chicken. 

"  Now  I'll  show  you  that  bolter.  You  say  you 
saw  him  cut  his  throat  at  the  Indiana  field  trials. 
Well,  he  don't  bolt  now.  I've  had  him  two  sea- 
sons, and  he's  just  a  great  dog.     Come,  Boy." 

A  tall,  rangy  Llewellin  setter  was  thrown  out. 
He  swung  off  at  a  fast  gallop  and  was  soon  far 
out,  working  toward  the  corn.  A  short,  sharp 
whistle.  Boy  stopped  and  looked  back.  A  wave 
of  the  arm  sent  him  in  a  contrary  direction. 
Another  whistle,  and  he  was  sent  back  toward 
the  corn.  The  whistle  again,  this  time  followed 
by  prolonged  notes.  Boy  came  galloping  in  and 
brought  himself  to  a  standstill  at  the  wagon. 

"  You  see  that  he  is  under  control  all  right. 
And  it  was  not  much  trouble.  When  he  learned 
me  and  what  I  wanted,  he  quit  his  self-hunting. 
But  with  such  a  dog  you  have  to  be  persistent 
from  the  first,  or  else  you  may  be  forced  to  use 
so  much  nagging  that  he  becomes  discouraged." 

Boy  was  sent  out  again.  He  pointed.  A 
single  old  chicken  rose  wild.  Instead  of  going 
into  the  corn,  it  rose  high  and  started  across 
the  prairie  in  rhythmic,  yellowhammer  flight.     It 


288  The  Sporting  Dog 

settled  a  half-mile  away.  Boy  was  waved  an  order 
to  follow.  He  had  been  watching  the  bird  and 
saw  where  it  went  down.  He  ran  in  a  straight 
line  until  he  was  within  a  hundred  yards.  Then 
he  slowed  down  to  a  trot  and  began  quartering 
cautiously,  coming  nearer  the  bird  with  every 
turn. 

"  That  old  cock  will  flush  wild  all  day.  We'll 
never  get  him,  and  it's  no  use  keeping  after  him. 
But  I  call  that  a  rather  nice  piece  of  bird  sense 
for  a  fast  dog."  The  chicken  flushed  wild,  to  be 
sure,  and  the  dog  was  called  in. 

"  If  you  never  saw  a  dog  that  would  drive  a 
man  to  drink,  you'll  see  one  now." 

Two  dogs  were  put  out.  One  was  a  clean- 
limbed, racy  pointer  bitch ;  the  other  was  a  very 
handsome  blue  belton  setter  dog. 

"  This  setter  is  a  grandson  of  Monk  of  Fur- 
ness,  crossed  on  Gath's  Mark  blood.  He  is  an 
extra  good  bird  dog,  but  so  jealous  that  he  must 
get  in  front  or  die  trying." 

The  dogs  went  out  gayly,  the  pointer  at  a 
remarkably  fast  and  smooth  gait.  In  a  few 
minutes  she  had  a  point  near  the  heavy  grass  at 
the  edge  of  the  bottom. 

"  Never  mind  her.  It's  quail.  Watch  that 
brute." 

The  setter  caught  sight  of  the  point,  flattened 
on    the   ground    like    a   greyhound,  and    dashed 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        289 

madly  toward  the  tense  figure  of  the  bitch.  As 
he  approached  he  slackened  speed,  but  did  not 
stop  until  he  was  a  length  in  front.  He  was  too 
close  and  the  bevy  flushed. 

"  It's  not  worth  while  to  put  him  through  his 
regular  lesson  here.  It  would  do  no  good.  I've 
simply  got  to  make  him  stop  a  hundred  times 
when  I  call  and  gradually  get  control  over  him 
in  backing.  He  knows  now  that  he's  wrong,  and 
for  the  sake  of  discipline  I  must  dust  his  skin  a 
little."  Joe  took  his  dusting  meekly  and  went 
back  to  the  crate. 

Then  for  the  pointer.  Her  owner  had  spoiled 
her  by  teaching  her  to  flush  ahead  of  him.  She 
had  acquired  a  habit  of  flushing  so  far  ahead  that 
shooting  was  usually  barren  of  results.  When 
the  gun  was  fifty  yards  away,  she  would  go  into 
the  birds,  in  her  owner's  shooting.  On  the  scat- 
tered birds  which  the  setter  had  flushed  she  soon 
had  a  point. 

"  After   that   rascal's  flush    she   will    be    more 
uneasy  on  point  than  ever,  but  if  I  can  conquer 
her  now,  it  will  be  the  best  kind  of  experience. 
You  stay  here." 

The  handler  walked  toward  the  point  slowly, 
stopping  quietly  every  few  paces,  and,  as  he  came 
near,  talking  caution  in  level  tones. 

"  Ste-a-a-d-y-y,  Queen  ;  who-o-o-a." 

The  bitch   shook   like    the   aspen  leaf  of  old. 


290  The  Sporting  Dog 

She  was  controlling  herself  with  effort.  But  the 
leisurely  movements,  and  slow,  warning  tones  of 
the  man  had  their  effect  on  the  responsive  nature 
of  the  dog.  He  came  almost  close  enough  to 
get  his  hand  on  her ;  not  quite,  though.  At  the 
last  moment  she  could  curb  herself  no  longer, 
and  jumped  at  the  hiding  quail.  The  handler 
reproved  her  with  a  stern  word  and  let  her  go 
on,  keeping  her  close  ahead  with  repeated 
commands. 

"  I  shan't  put  on  the  cord  if  I  can  get  on  with- 
out.    She  must  learn  to  let  me  get  ahead  of  her." 

Next  time  the  luck  was  better.  She  pointed  in 
erect  attitude,  head  up.  The  handler  drew  slowly 
near,  crawling  the  last  few  steps  to  produce  the 
imitative  sense  of  caution.  He  got  his  hand  on 
her  collar  and  gradually  drew  in  front,  the  bitch 
uneasy  but  not  breaking  her  point.  He  let  her 
follow,  moving  very  slowly,  for  the  short  distance 
before  he  flushed  the  bird.  But  he  flushed ;  not 
she.  That  was  the  object  of  the  meeting  and  it 
was  accomplished,  not  only  that  time  but  several 
times  before  the  opportunities  on  the  scattered 
birds  were  exhausted. 

We  spent  the  day  in  the  same  fashion,  putting 
down  each  delinquent  more  than  once,  and  repeat- 
ing the  respective  lessons.  Each  time  there  was 
some  improvement,  except  with  the  jealous  Joe. 
If  the  handler  happened  to  be  very  close  to  the 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        291 

point,  he  could  stop  the  dog  to  a  reluctant  back, 
but  to  get  the  point  ahead  was  a  literal  mania. 
In  fact,  the  dog  never  was  cured.  With  my 
friend,  the  handler,  he  became  prompt  to  back, 
but  in  the  hands  of  his  owner  or  anybody  else,  he 
steals  and  ravishes  points  to  this  day. 

That  trip  to  the  territory  was  one  of  the  most 
illuminating  experiences  I  have  ever  had  with 
dogs.  It  was  not  all  spent  in  the  reform  school 
exercises.  There  were  days  of  unequalled  quail 
and  chicken  shooting  over  better-behaved  dogs. 
But  one  can  get  shooting  in  any  state.  One 
finds  a  born  handler  only  here  and  there.  The 
patience,  coolness,  and  discrimination  are  given 
to  few  men.  Every  field  shot  should  have  a 
course  of  instruction  with  such  a  handler,  that 
he  may  learn  how  easily  dog  vices  are  developed 
by  unschooled  human  habits,  and  how  easily 
cured  by  intelligent  persistence. 

Our  Derby  Entries 

Figuring  on  his  string  of  two-year-olds  in  the 
winter  is  no  more  racking  and  no  more  pleasur- 
able to  the  racing  owner  than  is  the  testing  of 
his  Derby  candidates  to  the  field  trial  sportsman. 
He  is  hopeful  and  apprehensive.  Some  of  the 
pups  have  shown  quality,  but  all  have  defects. 
He   cannot   know  what   new   marvel   the   other 


292  The  Sporting  Dog 

fellow ^  may  have  ready  to  spring.  He  cannot 
exactly  remember  how  and  by  what  balance  the 
winners  of  last  year  beat  the  good  non-winners. 
From  experience  he  is  aware  that  he  may  leave 
at  home  the  youngster  which  would  win,  and  may 
waste  the  season  on  one  which  does  not  exactly 
please  the  judges.  The  same  experience  has 
taught  him  that  the  saddest  and  costliest  words 
with  which  a  performer  before  the  public  can  be 
labelled  are  "nearly,  but  not  quite."  For  the 
dog  public  is  to  the  full  as  fickle  and  cruel  as  the 
political  public  or  the  dramatic  public.  The  star 
of  the  day  or  of  the  season  is  lifted  on  a  pedestal, 
and  the  "  almost  as  good  "  is  lashed  down  to  the 
plug  ranks  with  contemptuous  adjectives. 

Picking  puppies  for  the  Derbies  is  picking 
everything  a  pointer  or  setter  can  possess  of 
merit.  It  is  picking  bird  sense,  obedience,  style, 
speed,  and  pluck.  It  is  also  picking  health  and 
good  digestion.  Just  what  degree  of  superiority 
here  or  there  will  capture  the  judges  is  a  doubt- 
ful proposition  in  advance  ;  but  it  is  certain  that 
to  win,  a  dog  cannot  be  conspicuously  weak  in 
any  standard  attribute.  And  if  he  be  not  a  good 
**  doer,"  able  to  eat  well  and  keep  in  shape  under 
vicissitudes  of  travel  and  excitement,  his  chance 
is  small. 

Perhaps  it  is  in  May,  when  the  professional 
handlers  are  going  to  the  Northwest  to  prepare 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  IVest        1(^2 

for  the  big  circuit  of  trials.  Perhaps  it  is  in 
August,  when  the  more  amateur-Hke  owners  and 
trainers  are  to  take  a  fling  at  the  nearest  state 
trials — maybe  Virginia  or  Alabama  or  New  York 
or  Connecticut.  Wherever  it  is,  the  rules  are 
about  the  same,  and  the  competition  will  be  stiff 
enough  to  call  for  the  best  dog  you  can  turn  out. 
And  the  best  Derby  dog  is  simply  the  dog 
which,  with  experience  and  stricter  training,  will 
be  the  best  shooting  dog.  It  is  the  pup  with  a 
nose  to  locate  surely,  ambition  to  carry  it  fast, 
and  style  to  please  the  eye.  You  may  hear  of 
good  shooting  dogs  as  if  they  were  something 
totally  different  from  field  trial  dogs,  but  the 
better  the  shooting  dog,  the  nearer  it  is  to  being 
a  field  trial  winner.  I  never  quite  understood 
of  what  a  grouse  or  snipe  or  woodcock  dog  is 
compounded.  I  never  saw  a  dog  kept  exclusively 
for  snipe  or  grouse ;  and  but  one  kept  primarily 
for  woodcock,  that  one  being  a  black-and-white 
setter  owned  by  a  market  hunter  on  the  best 
woodcock  ground  in  the  world.  The  sportsmen 
whom  I  have  met  shoot  snipe  and  ruffed  grouse 
over  their  dogs  when  they  can  find  the  game, 
but  they  take  that  kind  of  luck  as  it  comes.  To 
choose  a  dog  for  ruffed  grouse  and  hunt  only  for 
grouse  would  be  in  any  country  I  have  seen  a 
queer  use  of  time.  In  New  England  it  may  be 
different,  but   surely  not  different  in    any   state 


294  The  Sporting  Dog 

south  of  Long  Island.  I  would  not  call  that  man 
much  of  a  handler,  or  much  of  an  amateur  with 
dogs,  for  that  matter,  who  could  not  adjust  range 
and  speed  as  he  pleased.  When  you  want  range 
you  "  want  it  bad,"  and  when  you  want  close  work 
you  can  get  it ;  so  it's  wise  to  have  the  speed  and 
range  available.  The  quail  we  have  with  us 
always.  The  snipe  and  woodcock  may  show  up 
and  may  not. 

So,  when  picking  our  Derby  entries,  we  are 
picking  shooting  dogs  which  will  beat  our  friends' 
shooting  dogs  in  finding  and  working  game. 

The  wise  old  handler  and  I  went  out  to  say  the 
final  word  about  five  young  dogs  averaging  a  year 
and  a  half  in  age.  In  past  seasons  we  had  en- 
countered some  fair  luck;  some  unpleasantly  bad. 
This  time  we  were  after  a  sure  thing,  and  our 
twain  wisdom  was  enough  to  tell  us  that  from  the 
sure  thing  we  must  deduct  twenty  per  cent  for 
our  optimism  and  twenty  more  for  the  difference 
between  the  best  private  test  and  the  subsequent 
public  performances.  Ask  any  piano  player  or 
opera  singer  about  that  last  twenty  per  cent,  and 
he  will  say  that  it  is  not  far  from  the  safe  rule. 
Somehow,  everything  seems  to  dwindle  between 
the  last  evidence  of  private  capacity  and  the  first 
time  the  performer  measures  up  against  the  big 
world. 

We  had  Dan,  a  rangy,  ragged,  but  light-going 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  IVest        295 

liver-and-vvhite  pointer,  from  a  Jingo —  Dot's  Pearl 
—  sire  and  a  dam  tracing  to  Croxteth  and 
Sensation ;  Jeff,  a  white-black-tan  Llewellin,  by 
Sport's  Gath,  dam  by  Cincinnatus's  Pride ;  Lucy, 
a  Llewellin,  by  Count  Whitestone  out  of  a  Marie's 
Sport  dam ;  Susan,  an  orange-and-white  pointer, 
by  a  son  of  Rip  Rap ;  Bricks,  an  orange  bel- 
ton  Laverack  of  unusual  speed  showing,  and  an 
experiment. 

We  decided  that  it  would  be  best  to  take  them 
where  they  had  never  seen  the  ground  and  run 
them  in  braces.  The  spot  was  an  open  stretch 
of  pasture  and  wheat  land  in  Illinois;  no  better 
bird  country  for  trying  out  dogs  in  the  late 
summer. 

First  Dan  and  Lucy  went  down.  For  fifteen 
minutes  we  watched  and  followed  them. 

"  Well,  what  do  you  say  ?  Dan's  a  good  pup, 
but  I  don't  quite  like  his  style." 

"  No ;  nor  I.  He's  the  best  bird  dog  of  the 
bunch.  Isn't  he  a  serious  chap  1  No  play  with 
Dan.  He's  as  sure  and  stanch  as  any  old  dog, 
and  he  has  speed.  But  he  isn't  quite  fast  enough 
to  be  a  whirlwind,  and  he  carries  his  head  down 
level  with  his  shoulders,  and  his  tail  is  like  a 
stick  tacked  on  his  hips ;  he's  all  dog,  and  I  want 
to  have  the  finishing  of  him,  but  I'm  not  crazy 
about  his  chances  in  a  Derby." 

"  Lucy,  the  little  fraud,  could  do  the  trick  if  she 


296  The  Sporting  Dog 

would,  but  she  looks  too  ladylike  to  me.  One 
minute  she  skims  over  the  stubble  as  if  she  didn't 
touch  it,  and  the  next  she  is  following  Dan  and 
just  waiting  to  see  what  he  will  do.  She  has  gait 
and  sweet  style  and  a  long-range  nose,  but  there 
isn't  enough  devil  in  her.  If  she  would  get  down 
to  strict  business,  her  ticket  would  be  good  for 
some  end  of  any  money.  But  in  a  pinch  she'd 
just  about  give  us  this  Alphonse  and  Gaston  act, 
and  they'd  laugh  at  our  nice  little  girl." 

"  Look  at  Dan.  Now,  isn't  that  a  dog  for 
keeps  ?  He  went  at  that  point  too  far  off,  but  he 
was  sure,  and  never  moved  while  Lucy  danced 
into  the  birds.  I  pretty  near  think  he'll  have  to 
be  entered,  and  let  his  style  come  out  the  best  it 
can.  He's  the  same  every  hour  in  the  day,  and 
can  go  that  lick  just  as  long  as  any  dog  in  the 
kennel  will  stay  with  him." 

"  That  will  do  to  think  over.  Put  them  up  and 
try  Jeff  and  Susan." 

Susan  was  much  like  Lucy,  but  lacking  the 
airy  gait ;  a  jolly,  choppy  little  miss ;  friendly 
with  us  and  with  her  mate;  tolerable  in  speed 
when  the  notion  took  her,  but  having  no  fighting 
blood  to  kindle  the  spirit  of  contest  or  the  desire 
for  prey.  Jeff  was  a  biggish  puppy  of  ample  range 
and  of  more  speed  than  he  seemed  to  have.  For 
field  trial  purposes  he  did  not  have  enough  of  a 
dash-away  spurt  on  the  start.     Even  chubby  little 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        297 

Susan  led  him  out  for  the  first  hundred  yards; 
and  he  had  a  tendency  to  false  point.  He  was 
perfectly  independent  in  ranging  and,  if  he  did 
not  check  himself  for  a  half-point  at  nothing, 
would  go  faster  and  faster  for  a  long  cast. 

"  I  believe  I  can  make  a  first-class  all-age  dog 
of  Jeff,"  said  the  handler,  "but  I  don't  believe 
there's  time  to  get  him  over  these  ways  this  fall. 
He's  going  to  need  forcing  away  from  rabbits  and 
stinkbirds,  and  a  good  lot  of  quail  and  chicken 
killed  over  him  to  make  him  want  to  get  there 
from  the  start.  It  looks  to  me  as  if  his  mind 
needed  making  up  about  what  he's  out  for.  He 
can  go  fast,  and  he  acts  as  if  he  had  the  stuff  in 
him.  I  look  for  him  to  get  better  all  the  time. 
Susan  will  have  more  friends  if  she  never  goes 
to  the  trials.  Most  people  would  love  her  for  a 
shooting  dog.  A  boy  could  handle  her  in  a 
week.  She  just  naturally  likes  to  please.  Some 
of  these  fellows  who  can't  manage  a  wide-going 
dog  would  be  tickled  with  her.  You  could  work 
her  on  any  game  you  pleased.  You're  the  home- 
body. Miss  Susan." 

Dan  was  brought  out  again  as  a  trial  horse  for 
the  Laverack.  The  latter  had  a  jaunty,  cocky 
style,  head  well  up  and  stern  switching  merrily. 
There  was  nothing  to  keep  him  from  being  a 
fast  dog  except  his  disposition.  With  good 
conformation  and  free  action,  he  went  a  pace  at 


298  The  Sporting  Dog 

times  that  raised  hopes,  but  he  had  no  eagerness 
of  ranging  and  would  circle  and  come  back,  or 
stop  and  nose  into  bushes  or  fence  corners.  The 
difference  between  him  and  the  plainer  pointer 
was  the  difference  between  the  dilettante  and 
the  unswerving  worker.  Tie  tin  cans  to  their 
tails,  and  Bricks  would  probably  have  reached 
home  first;  his  capacity  for  extreme  speed  was 
greater.  In  actual  work  the  pointer  would  have 
been  ahead  of  him  on  the  outside,  the  inside, 
around,  across,  and  in  every  other  direction  where 
birds  were  to  be  found.  The  Laverack  was  a 
beauty  in  style,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  in  a 
brushy  country  of  small  field  enclosures  he  might 
be  a  charming  dog.  He  would  cover  such  a  coun- 
try pretty  fast.  But,  hunted  from  horseback  or  a 
wagon,  he  would  be  behind  the  gun  half  the  time. 

We  changed  them  around  and  tried  the  setters 
together  and  then  the  pointers.  With  some  minor 
variations  the  outcome  was  the  same.  In  fact,  all 
through  we  were  merely  confirming  what  we  had 
found  out  before  but  did  not  like  to  admit. 

"  I  tell  you  what  we'll  do.  It's  no  fun  getting 
beaten.  As  it  stands  to-day,  Dan  is  the  best  pup 
we  have,  and  he  is  not  classy  enough.  Jeff  will 
be  in  it  next  year,  but  that's  not  this  year.  Lucy 
has  the  foot  of  the  party  and  the  class,  but  she 
keeps  both  for  seldom  occasions.  She  is  not 
reliable.     Susan  and  Bricks  are  out  of  it  entirely. 


Sketches  in  the  East  and  West        299 

There  are  too  many  'buts'  and  '  ifs '  to  spend 
entry  fees  and  express  charges  on.  We'll  go  to 
the  trials  and  have  fun  with  the  other  boys.  And 
then  we'll  do  as  Jim  Martin  did.  Two  years  ago 
he  had  a  Rodfield  pup  which  died  just  before  the 
trial  season  opened.  He's  like  the  fishing  man  who 
let  the  six-pound  bass  get  away.  That  pup  was 
the  most  remarkable  of  all  pups  when  he  was  on 
earth.  He's  been  getting  greater  and  greater 
every  day  since.  Jim  has  lied  about  him  until 
the  tales  have  become  sacred  history.  We  must 
break  a  pup's  leg,  and  then  tell  about  what  would 
have  happened  to  the  duffers  at  the  trials  if  we 
had  just  brought  our  dog." 

And  that's  how  we  had  strictly  talking  parts  at 
the  trials  of  one  season. 


APPENDIX 

BENCH-SHOW   STANDARDS   AND   FIELD- 
TRIAL   RULES 

POINTER 

Head  large,  flat,  stop  well  defined,  and  with  a  depression  running 
from  stop  to  occiput ;  full  development  of  occipital  bone  imperative. 
Nose  large,  long,  deep,  and  broad  (black  in  all  except  lemon-and- 
white,  when  it  should  be  deep  flesh  color).  Nostrils  large  and 
open.  Ears  moderately  long,  filbert  shaped  and  lying  flat ;  set  low, 
thin  leather.  Eyes  medium  size,  not  set  wide  apart,  and  of  various 
shades  of  brown,  varying  with  color  of  coat.  Lips  full,  not  thick  nor 
pendulous. 

Neck  arched,  firm,  round,  not  too  short ;  no  tendency  to  throati- 
ness,  no  dewlap.  Shoulders  long  and  sloping.  Chest  deep,  with 
narrow  sternum.  Ribs  moderately  sprung,  not  flat.  Loins  broad 
and  slightly  arched.  Hips  thick,  strong,  and  muscular.  Stifles  well 
bent.  Front  legs  should  be  straight  and  strong.  Hind  legs  well 
crooked  and  well  muscled.  Feet  of  good  size,  but  not  too  large ; 
round  and  catlike.  Pads  full  and  tough.  Nails  short  and  thick, 
with  plenty  of  hair  between  toes.  Tail  set  on  well  up,  and  taper  to 
a  decided  point,  the  straighter  the  better ;  carried  low,  and  action 
free.  Coat  fairly  dense,  and  not  too  soft.  Color,  liver-and-white, 
black-and-white,  orange-and-white,  whole  black,  or  whole  liver. 

Scale  of  Points.  —  Skull  and  nose  (lo),  20;  eyes,  ears,  lips,  4; 
neck,  6;  shoulders  and  chest,  15  ;  hindquarters  and  stifles,  15  ;  legs, 
elbows,  and  hocks,  12;  feet  (8),  tail  (5),  coat  (3),  16;  color  (5), 
symmetry  and  quality  (7),  12. 

STANDARD   OF  ENGLISH   SETTER  CLUB 

(England,  followed  by  Laverack  men  in  America) 

Scale.  —  Head,  20 ;  neck,  5  ;  body,  30 ;  legs  and  feet,  20 ;  tail,  5  ; 
symmetry,  coat,  and  feathering,  15  ;  color  and  markings,  5  ;  total,  100. 

301 


302  Appendix 

Head.  —  Should  be  long  and  lean,  with  a  well-defined  stop.  The 
skull  oval  from  ear  to  ear,  showing  plenty  of  brain  room,  and  with  a 
well-defined  occipital  protuberance.  The  muzzle  moderately  deep 
and  fairly  square ;  from  the  stop  to  the  point  of  the  nose  should  be 
long,  the  nostrils  wide,  and  the  jaws  of  nearly  equal  length ;  flews 
not  to  be  pendulous ;  the  color  of  the  nose  should  be  black,  or  dark, 
or  light  liver,  according  to  the  color  of  the  coat.  The  eyes  should 
be  bright,  mild,  and  intelligent,  and  of  a  dark  hazel  color  —  the 
darker  the  better.  The  ears  of  moderate  length,  set  on  low,  and 
hanging  in  neat  folds  close  to  the  cheek ;  the  tip  should  be  velvety, 
the  upper  part  clothed  with  fine,  silky  hair. 

Neck.  —  Should  be  rather  long,  muscular,  and  lean,  slightly  arched 
at  the  crest,  and  clean  cut  where  it  joins  the  head ;  toward  the 
shoulder  it  should  be  larger  and  very  muscular,  not  throaty,  though  the 
skin  is  loose  below  the  throat,  elegant  and  bloodlike  in  appearance. 

Body.  —  Should  be  of  moderate  length,  with  shoulders  well  set 
back,  or  oblique ;  back  short  and  level ;  loins  wide,  slightly  arched, 
strong,  and  muscular.  Chest  deep  in  the  brisket,  with  good  round, 
widely  sprung  ribs,  deep  in  the  back  ribs ;  that  is,  well  ribbed  up. 

Legs  and  Feet.  —  Stifles  well  bent  and  strong,  thighs  long  from 
hip  to  hock.  The  forearm  big  and  very  muscular,  the  elbow  well 
let  down.  Pastern  short,  muscular,  and  straight.  The  feet  very 
close  and  compact,  and  well  protected  by  hair  between  the  toes. 

Tail.  —  The  tail  should  be  set  on  almost  in  a  line  with  the  back ; 
medium  length,  not  curly  or  ropy ;  to  be  slightly  curved  or  scimitar 
shaped,  but  with  no  tendency  to  turn  upward ;  the  flag  or  feather 
hanging  in  long  pendant  flakes.  The  feather  should  not  commence 
at  root,  but  slightly  below,  and  increase  in  length  to  the  middle,  then 
gradually  taper  off  toward  the  end ;  and  the  hair  long,  bright,  soft, 
and  silky,  wavy  but  not  curly. 

Symmetry,  Coat,  and  Feathering.  —  The  coat  from  the  back  of  the 
head  in  a  line  with  the  ears  ought  to  be  straight,  long,  and  silky  (a 
slight  wave  in  it  not  objectionable),  which  should  be  the  case  with 
the  coat  generally ;  the  breeches  and  forelegs,  nearly  down  to  the 
feet,  should  be  well  feathered. 

Color  and  Markings.  —  The  color  may  be  either  black-and-white, 
orange-and-white,  lemon-and-white,  liver-and-white,  or  tricolor,  that 
is,  black-white-tan;  those  without  heavy  patches  of  color  on  the 
body,  but  flecked  all  over,  preferred. 


Appendix  303 


STANDARD   OF   ENGLISH   SETTER   CLUB 

(America.    Called  the  Llewellin  Standard.    Adopted  in  1900.    Followed  by 
field  trial  or  Llewellin  men) 

Head  (20).  —  The  form  of  the  skull  is  an  eminent  characteristic. 
It  is  not  so  heavy  as  that  of  the  pointer  and  is  relatively  without  the 
furrow  and  marked  prominence  of  the  occipital  bone,  which  should 
be  but  shghtly  defined.  The  skull,  with  moderate  dome,  should 
be  long  and  narrow,  rather  than  wedge  shaped  between  the  ears. 
The  brows  should  be  at  a  sharp  and  decided  angle  from  the  nose. 
The  stop  should  be  well  defined  and  clean  cut,  with  a  slight  furrow 
between  the  eyes. 

The  nose  should  be  long,  and  of  width  in  harmony  with  the  skull, 
without  any  fulness  under  the  eyes.  Its  length  should  be  from 
three  and  one-half  to  four  and  one-half  inches,  from  the  inner  cor- 
ner of  the  eye  to  the  end  of  the  nose,  according  to  the  size  of  the 
dog;  four  inches  should  represent  the  average. 

Between  the  eyes  and  point  of  the  nose  the  line  of  the  muzzle 
should  be  straight.     A  dish-faced  or  a  Roman  nose  is  objectionable. 

The  nostrils  should  be  wide  apart  and  wide  in  the  openings ;  the 
end  of  the  nose  should  be  moist  and  cool ;  black  or  dark  liver  in 
color,  except  that  in  white,  or  lemon-and-white,  dogs  a  pink  nose 
may  be  pardoned. 

The  jaws  should  be  exactly  equal  in  length.  A  "snipe  nose"  or 
"  pig  jaw,"  as  the  short  receding  jaw  is  called,  is  a  serious  fault. 

The  lips  should  be  of  a  form  to  show  a  rather  square  muzzle,  but 
should  not  be  too  full  and  pendant  at  the  angles,  nor  reach  the 
extent  of  hanging. 

The  eyes  should  be  set  with  their  angles  straight  across.  They 
must  be  full  of  animation,  with  the  width  between  them  in  propor- 
tion to  the  size  of  the  head  and  face.  They  should  be  equally  free 
from  a  close-set  and  fi-om  a  wide,  staring  expression.  The  best 
color  is  a  rich  brown. 

The  ears  should  be  carried  closely  to  the  cheeks  and  hung  well 
back  and  set  low,  of  moderate  length,  slightly  rounded  at  the  ends, 
without  the  slightest  tendency  to  prick  or  to  show  the  inside ;  the 
leather  thin  and  soft  and  clothed  with  silky  hair  about  two  inches 
long. 


304  Appendix 

As  a  whole,  though  avoiding  both  extremes  of  lightness  and  heavi- 
ness, the  head  should  be  light  rather  than  heavy,  clean  cut,  of  length 
and  size  in  harmony  with  the  body  and  possessing  true  English 
setter  character. 

Neck  (5).  —  The  neck  should  be  long  and  lean,  gradually  widen- 
ing from  the  head  to  the  shoulders,  and  joining  them  in  a  graceful 
curve.     It  must  not  be  throaty. 

Shoulders  and  Chest  (15).  —  The  shoulders  and  chest  should  not 
be  too  heavy ;  they  should  be  formed  to  admit  perfect  freedom  of 
action  to  the  forelegs  when  in  an  extended  stride. 

The  shoulder-blades  should  be  deep,  wide,  sloping  well  back,  and 
standing  close  together  at  the  top,  and  the  chest  between  the 
shoulder-blades  should  be  of  moderate  depth,  and  thin  enough  to 
allow  the  shoulders  to  lie  flat  and  move  with  freedom ;  of  such  pro- 
portions as  not  to  suggest  undue  weight  on  the  forelegs,  either  great 
depth  or  great  width  at  this  point  being  objectionable. 

The  wide  or  round  chest  between  the  shoulder-blades,  forcing 
them  wide  apart,  is  a  most  objectionable  form.  The  drop  in  the 
chest  should  be  just  back  of  the  elbows,  the  chest  sloping  upward 
from  this  point  toward  the  neck,  permitting  the  dog  to  carry  his 
neck  and  head  up  with  ease.  Back  of  the  shoulders  and  of  the  play 
of  the  forelegs,  the  ribs  should  spring  gradually  to  the  middle  and 
then  gradually  lessen  to  the  back  ribs,  which  should  have  good 
depth. 

Back  and  Loin  (10).  —  The  loin  should  be  strong,  with  moderate 
length,  slightly  arched,  but  not  to  the  extent  of  being  reached  or 
wheel  backed. 

The  back  should  be  strong  at  its  junction  with  the  loin,  sloping 
upward  in  a  slight  rise  to  the  top  of  the  shoulders,  the  whole  form- 
ing a  graceful  outline  of  medium  length.  Any  sway  or  drop  in  the 
back  is  objectionable. 

Hips,  Quarters,  and  Stifles  (10).  —  The  hip  bones  should  be  promi- 
nent and  wide  apart,  but  not  enough  so  as  to  give  them  a  ragged 
appearance.  There  should  be  good  length,  and  without  too  sudden 
droop,  from  them  to  the  whirlbone  at  the  root  of  the  tail ;  the  quar- 
ters should  be  wide  at  the  top  and  well  muscled.  The  stifles  should 
be  well  bent,  but  not  exceedingly  so. 

Legs,  Elbows,  Hocks,  and  Feet  (15).  —  The  arm  should  be  flat, 
muscular,  strong,  with  bone  fully  developed,  and  with  muscles  hard 


Appendix  305 


and  devoid  of  flabbiness  ;  of  good  length  from  the  point  of  shoulder 
to  the  elbow,  well  let  down  at  such  angles  as  will  bring  the  legs  fairly 
under  the  dog,  the  elbows  in  proper  position  being  on  a  line  with  the 
bottom  of  the  chest. 

The  elbows  and  toes  should  have  the  same  direction,  turning 
neither  in  nor  out,  pointing  straight  from  rear  to  front;  if  not 
straight,  the  inturned  leg  and  toes  are  the  less  objectionable.  The 
foreleg  should  be  flat,  and  taper  gradually  from  the  elbow  to  the 
pastern  joint ;  it  should  feel  hard  and  flinty,  with  no  looseness  of 
skin.  The  pasterns  should  be  short,  strong,  and  nearly  round,  with 
the  slope  from  the  pastern  joint  to  the  foot  deviating  but  slightly 
from  the  perpendicular. 

The  hind  legs  should  have  wide,  muscular  thighs,  a  well-developed 
lower  thigh,  and  wide,  flat  hocks  ;  the  cowhock  is  to  be  avoided. 

The  feet  need  careful  consideration,  as  the  utility  of  the  dog  de- 
pends upon  them.  Of  the  two  types,  the  round,  or  catfoot,  is  much 
to  be  preferred  to  the  long  or  harefoot.  The  feet  should  be  closely 
set  and  strong ;  well  padded,  with  toes  well  arched,  and  clothed  with 
short  and  thick  hair. 

Stern  (5).  —  The  stern,  as  the  tail  is  termed,  should  be  carried 
straight,  or  with  a  slight  curve  upward,  not  higher  than  slightly 
above  the  level  of  the  back.  Any  tendency  to  curl  upward  or  side- 
ways is  a  fault.  It  should  taper  to  a  fine  point,  with  only  length 
enough  to  reach  the  hocks,  or  less.  The  feather  must  be  straight, 
silky,  falling  loosely  in  a  fringe,  and  tapering  to  a  point  when  the  tail 
is  raised.     There  must  be  no  bushiness  whatever. 

Coat  and  Feather  (5).  —  The  coat  should  be  flat  and  of  moderate 
length,  with  an  absence  of  curl.  In  condition  it  shows  gloss  and 
quality.  It  should  not  be  too  long  or  soft,  nor  woolly,  yet  fine 
enough  to  preserve  the  setter  character.  The  feather  on  the  legs 
should  be  thin  and  regular. 

Color  and  Markings  (5).  —  Color  is  a  matter  of  fancy,  and  too 
much  stress  should  not  be  laid  upon  it.  Black-white-tan,  black- 
and-white,  blue  belton,  lemon-and-white,  lemon  belton,  orange-and- 
white,  orange  belton,  liver-and-white,  liver  belton,  solid  white,  black- 
and-liver,  are  recognized  colors. 

Symmetry,  Size,  and  Weight  (10).  — The  harmony  of  all  the  parts 
is  to  be  estimated.  Symmetrical  dogs  will  be  slightly  higher  at  the 
shoulders  than  at  the  hips.     The  judge  is  specially  directed  to  look 

X 


3o6  Appendix 

for  that  balance  and  harmony  of  proportion,  and  style  of  natural 
movement,  which  suggest  the  rapidity,  ease,  and  endurance  needed 
in  a  high  and  maintained  rate  of  speed,  rather  than  for  the  excellence 
of  any  particular  part ;  to  disapprove  of  undue  massiveness,  coarse- 
ness, and  clumsiness,  lack  of  size  and  absence  of  setter  character,  no 
matter  what  the  outline  may  be.  Experience  indicates  that  the  best 
size  for  dogs  is  from  forty  to  fifty-five  pounds,  for  bitches  thirty-five 
to  fifty  pounds.  Taste  and  the  particular  kind  of  work  required  may 
govern  to  some  extent,  but  it  may  be  said  that  the  most  useful  set- 
ters, as  a  rule,  are  in  weight  midway  between  the  extremes  men- 
tioned. The  height  should  be  about  twenty-two  to  twenty-three 
inches  at  the  shoulder  in  dogs,  and  twenty-one  to  twenty-two  in 
bitches. 

IRISH   SETTER 

The  head  of  this  setter  is  long  and  lean,  skull  oval,  well-defined 
occipital  protuberance  ;  brows  raised,  muzzle  moderately  deep,  fairly 
square  at  end.  Nostrils  wide,  jaws  of  nearly  equal  length  ;  flews  not 
pendulous ;  nose  dark  mahogany  or  chocolate ;  eyes  rich  hazel  or 
brown.  Ears  of  moderate  size,  fine  in  texture,  set  on  low,  and  well 
back. 

Neck  moderately  long,  very  muscular.  Shoulders  deep  and  slop- 
ing ;  chest  rather  narrow  but  deep  ;  ribs  well  sprung  ;  loins  muscular 
and  slightly  arched ;  hindquarters  powerful.  Hindlegs  to  hocks 
strong  and  muscular ;  hocks  to  heel  short  and  strong.  Stifles  well 
bent.  Forelegs  with  plenty  of  bone ;  elbows  well  let  down,  inclined 
neither  in  nor  out.  Feet  rather  small,  very  firm  ;  toes  strong,  arched, 
and  close  together. 

Tail  moderate  length,  set  on  low,  tapering  to  a  point,  carried 
scimitar-like  or  straight.  Coat  on  head,  front  of  legs,  and  tips  of 
ears,  short  and  fine ;  on  other  parts,  of  moderate  length,  flat,  free 
from  curl  or  wave.  Feather  on  upper  part  of  ears,  back  of  fore  and 
hind  legs  long  and  fine  ;  hair  on  tail  of  moderate  length.  All  feath- 
ering as  straight  and  flat  as  possible. 

Color,  golden  chestnut  or  mahogany  red,  with  no  trace  of  black. 
White  on  chest,  throat,  toes  ;  streak  on  nose  or  face ;  small  star  on 
forehead  not  to  disqualify. 

Scale  of  Points.  —  Head,  lo;  eyes,  ears,  neck  (5),  15  ;  body,  15  ; 
shoulders,  forelegs,  and  feet,  12  ;  hindlegs,  10;  tail,  coat,  and  feather 
(8),  16;  color,  8;  size  and  style,  14. 


Appendix  307 


GORDON   SETTER 

The  Duke  of  Gordon  claims  to  be  the  originator  of  this  breed 
(1820).  The  points  of  the  Gordon  setter  are  very  nearly  the  same 
as  those  of  the  English  setter,  except  as  follows  :  The  skull  is  some- 
what heavier  than  that  of  the  English  dog,  but  in  other  respects  is 
about  the  same.  The  nose,  too,  is  a  trifle  wider.  In  shape,  the  flag 
is  the  same  as  the  English  setter,  except  that  it  is  a  little  shorter ; 
the  coat  is  certainly  denser  and  coarser  than  either  the  Irish  or  Eng- 
lish setter,  inclined  in  very  many  good  specimens  to  a  decided  curl, 
though  a  curl  is  7iot  to  be  sought  after  in  this  breed. 

The  coat  is  a  point  much  insisted  upon.  The  black  should  be 
rich  and  glossy,  and  the  tan  a  deep,  rich  mahogany  red,  without  the 
slightest  trace  of  fawn  or  yellow.  The  tan  should  appear  on  lips, 
cheeks,  throat,  spot  over  the  eyes,  forelegs  nearly  to  elbows ;  hind- 
legs  as  far  as  the  stifles,  and  on  the  tmder  side  of  the  flag,  but  not 
extending  to  the  long  hairs.  These  are  the  only  two  colors  admitted 
on  the  Gordon,  though  a  little  white  is  not  seriously  objected  to,  yet 
it  is  considered  by  good  judges  as  a  decided  blemish.  The  prize 
winners  of  to-day  are  absolutely  free  from  white. 

Scale  of  Points.  —  Skull,  lo;  nose,  lo;  eyes,  lips,  and  ears,  4; 
shoulders  and  chest,  15;  back,  quarters,  and  stifles,  15;  legs,  12; 
neck,  6 ;  feet,  8 ;  flag,  5  ;  symmetry  and  quality,  5  ;  texture  of  coat 
and  feather,  5  ;  color,  5 . 

STANDARD   OF   CHESAPEAKE   BAY   DOG  CLUB 

Head,  including  ears,  lips,  and  eyes,  14;  neck,  6;  shoulders  and 
chest,  14;  back,  quarters,  and  stifles,  14;  legs,  elbows,  hocks,  and 
feet,  14;  stern,  4;  symmetry  and  quality,  6;  coat  and  texture,  16; 
color,  12;  total,  100  points. 

The  head  is  broad,  running  to  nose  only  a  trifle  pointed,  but  not 
at  all  sharp ;  eyes  of  yellow  color. 

Ears  small  and  placed  well  up  on  the  head. 

Face  should  be  covered  with  very  short  hair. 

Neck  only  moderately  long,  and  with  firm,  strong  appearance. 

Shoulders  and  chest  full  liberty,  with  plenty  of  show  for  power  and 
no  tendency  to  restrictions  of  movement ;  chest  strong  and  deep. 

Back,  quarters,  and  stifles  fully  as  much  if  not  more  powerful  than 


3o8  Appendix 

forequarters,  and  be  capable  of  standing  prolonged  strain,  and  ten- 
dency to  weakness  must  be  avoided. 

Ducking  on  the  broad  waters  of  the  Chesapeake  Bay  involves,  at 
times,  facing  heavy  tides  and  seas,  and  in  cases  of  following  wounded 
fowl  a  dog  is  frequently  subjected  to  a  long  swim. 

The  legs,  elbows,  and  hocks  should  therefore  be  short,  showing 
both  bone  and  muscle,  and  with  well-webbed  feet,  of  good  size.  The 
forelegs  should  be  rather  straight  and  symmetrical.  It  is  to  be  un- 
derstood that  short  legs  do  not  convey  the  idea  of  a  dumpy  forma- 
tion. The  elbows  should  be  well  let  down,  and  set  straight  for 
development  of  easy  movement. 

The  stern  should  be  stout,  somewhat  long,  the  straighter  the 
better,  and  showing  only  moderate  feather. 

The  Chesapeake  Bay  dog  should  show  a  bright,  lively,  intelligent 
expression,  with  general  outlines  good  at  all  points.  In  fact,  he 
should  be  a  dog  worthy  of  notice  in  any  company. 

The  coat  and  texture  should  be  short  and  thick,  somewhat  coarse, 
with  tendency  to  wave  over  the  shoulders,  back,  and  loins,  where  it 
is  longest.  It  must  be  nowhere  over  one  and  one-quarter  to  one  and 
one-half  inches  long.  That  on  flanks,  legs,  and  belly  should  be 
shorter,  tapering  to  quite  short  near  the  feet.  Under  all  there  should 
be  a  short,  woolly  fur,  which  should  well  cover  the  skin,  and  readily 
be  observed  by  pressing  aside  the  outer  coat.  This  coat  preserves 
the  dog  from  the  effect  of  wet  and  cold,  and  enables  him  to  stand 
severe  exposure,  a  shake  or  two  throwing  off  all  water. 

The  color  should  nearly  resemble  wet  sedge  grass,  though  toward 
spring  it  becomes  much  lighter  by  exposure  to  the  weather.  A 
small,  white  spot  or  frill  on  the  breast  is  admissible.  Color  is  im- 
portant, as  the  dog  in  most  cases  is  apt  to  be  outside  the  blind,  con- 
sequently too  dark  a  color  is  objectionable.  The  deep  liver  color  of 
the  spaniel  makes  a  much  greater  contrast,  and  is  therefore  to  be 
avoided. 

The  weight  should  be  about  sixty  pounds.  Too  large  a  dog  is 
unwieldy  and  lacks  quickness  of  movement.  Bitches  are  usually 
smaller  than  the  dogs,  but  not  necessarily  so. 

ENGLISH   FOXHOUND 

The  head  is  large,  but  not  heavy,  brow  pronounced,  but  not  high, 
of  good  length,  making  girth  about  i6  inches.     Nose  long  and  wide  ; 


Appendix  309 

ears  set  low  and  lying  close  to  cheek.  Neck  long  and  clean  without 
throatiness.  Shoulders  long,  well  muscled,  sloping,  and  the  true 
arm  long  and  muscular. 

Girth  of  chest  30  inches  in  a  24-inch  tall  dog.  Back  ribs  very 
deep.  Back  and  loins  very  muscular ;  couplings  very  wide  even  to 
raggedness,  with  slight  arch  of  loins.  Hindquarters  very  strong, 
elbows  set  straight,  neither  in  nor  out.  Legs  perfectly  straight  and 
strong,  large  size  of  bone  at  ankle  all-important ;  feet  round,  catlike, 
and  strong.  Color  black-white-tan,  black-and-white,  and  various 
pies  of  white  and  the  color  of  the  hare  and  badger.  Coat  dense, 
short,  hard,  and  glossy.  Stern  gradually  arched,  carried  gayly  over 
back,  fringed  with  hair  and  tapering  to  a  point. 

Scale  of  Points.  —  Head,  15;  neck,  5;  shoulders,  10;  chest  and 
back  ribs,  10;  back  and  loins,  10;  hindquarters,  10;  elbows,  5  ;  legs 
and  feet,  20  ;  color  and  coat,  5  ;  stern,  5  ;  symmetry,  5. 

American  foxhounds  are  judged  according  to  the  idea  of  more 
lightness  and  activity  all  through.  In  American  hounds  the  black- 
and-tan,  with  little  or  no  white,  and  the  tan  or  red,  with  a  small  area 
of  white,  find  as  breed  colors  more  indulgence  than  in  the  English. 

BEAGLE 

(American  Beagle  Club) 

A  miniature  foxhound,  solid  and  big  for  his  inches,  with  the  wear- 
and-tear  look  of  the  dog  that  can  last  in  the  chase  and  follow  his 
quarry  to  the  death. 

In  head  he  differs  in  an  appreciable  degree  from  the  foxhound. 

Head.  —  Skull  moderately  domed  at  occiput;  cranium  broad  and 
full ;  ears  set  on  low,  long  and  fine  in  texture,  front  edge  closely 
framing  and  inturned  to  cheek,  rather  broad,  rounded  at  tips,  and 
with  an  almost  entire  absence  of  erectile  power  at  their  origin. 

Eyes  full,  prominent,  rather  wide  apart,  soft  and  lustrous,  brown 
or  hazel  in  color ;  orbital  processes  (eyebrows)  well  developed  ; 
expression  gentle,  subdued,  and  pleading. 

The  muzzle  of  medium  length,  squarely  cut,  and  stop  well  defined. 

Jaws  level ;  indentation  between  eyes ;  lips  with  only  moderate 
flews. 

Nostrils  large,  moist,  and  open. 

In  other  parts  he  should  resemble  the  foxhound,  and  be  as  strongly, 


3IO  Appendix 

perhaps  even  more  symmetrically,  made  with  an  equal  development 
of  quality  and  character. 

Size  is  of  importance ;  this  dog  must  not  exceed  fifteen  inches  in 
height  at  the  shoulder. 

IRISH   WATER-SPANIEL 

General  appearance  is  that  of  a  handsome,  strong,  rather  leggy 
dog,  with  very  striking  physical  characteristics. 

Head.  —  Skull  of  medium  length,  rather  broad,  with  but  a  slight 
stop  ;  muzzle  long  and  broad  to  the  end ;  eyes  dark  brown  and  with 
an  intelligent  expression  ;  ears  long  and  covered  with  curls. 

Chest.  —  Deep  rather  than  wide.     Loin  somewhat  arched. 

Stern.  —  Strong  at  root,  tapering  to  a  fine  point ;  hair  on  it  very 
short,  straight,  and  close  lying. 

Legs  and  Feet.  —  Legs  long,  but  strong  in  bone ;  feet  somewhat 
large.     Stifles  rather  straight ;  hocks  w^ell  let  down. 

Coat.  —  All  over  little  curls,  hard  and  not  woolly.  On  forehead  a 
top-knot  of  long  hair,  falling  over  eyes  in  a  peak.  Legs  to  have  as 
little  feather  as  possible. 

Color.  —  A  rich  dark  liver,  free  from  white,  though  a  little  of  the 
latter  on  breast  or  toes  should  not  disqualify. 

FOX   TERRIER 

(Condensed  from  Charles  H.  Lane's  "  All  About  Dogs,"  published  by  John 
Lane,  New  York) 

The  points  of  greatest  importance  in  the  fox  terrier  are  head,  ears, 
legs  and  feet,  neck  and  shoulders,  back,  loin  and  hindquarters,  smart- 
ness, activity,  size,  and  "  terrier  character." 

Head.  —  The  skull  should  be  flat  and  moderately  narrow,  broader 
between  the  ears  and  gradually  tapering  to  the  eyes,  free  from  wrinkle. 
But  little  slope,  or  indentation,  should  be  visible,  except  in  profile. 
The  jaw  should  be  clean  cut,  rather  long,  powerful,  and  muscular, 
with  little  or  any  fulness  or  bulging  out  at  the  cheeks.  There  is  a 
very  slight  falling  away  below  the  eyes,  but  this  must  be  very  gradual, 
and  not  to  such  an  extent  as  to  give  a  snipey,  or  wedgy,  appearance, 
The  lips  should  be  feirly  tight,  without  any  superfluous  skin.  The 
nose  must  be  quite  black.     Stern  set  on  rather  high,  carried  gayly, 


Appendix  3 1 1 

not  carried  above  a  "  right  angle  '^  with  back ;  if  anything,  a  trifle 
coarse. 

Legs  and  Feet.  —  Point  of  extreme  value,  to  which  greatest  atten- 
tion should  be  given.  Elbows  well  let  down,  in  straight  line  with 
body.  Forelegs,  however  viewed,  "straight  as  gun  barrels,"  with 
upright,  powerful  pasterns ;  strong  in  bone,  clothed  with  muscle 
from  elbow  to  foot,  giving  a  most  solid,  unbroken  appearance ;  feet 
round  and  catlike,  very  compact,  toes  short  and  only  moderately 
arched,  soles  hard  as  adamant ;  foot  should  neither  turn  in  or  out, — 
if  any  deviation,  should  turn  in ;  no  dewclaws  behind. 

The  coat  should  be  smooth,  harsh  in  texture,  very  close  and 
abundant,  a  jacket  to  protect  wearer  from  all  weathers.  Colors : 
white  should  predominate.  Brindle,  fallow,  liver,  or  red  markings 
are  objectionable. 

Size. — The  fox  terrier  must  neither  be  leggy  nor  too  near  the 
ground;  neither  must  he  be  cloddy,  but  should  have  plenty  of 
"  liberty  "  and  galloping  power,  with  good  bone  and  substance,  fair 
speed  and  endurance  being  essentially  requisite  for  his  legitimate 
calling.  Seventeen  pounds  in  hard  working  condition  is  a  fair  aver- 
age weight,  but  this  may  vary  a  pound  or  so  either  way.  Make, 
shape,  good  shoulders,  and  chest  being  far  better  criterions,  in  this 
respect,  than  actual  weight. 

The  above  appHes  to  smooth,  but  is  also  an  excellent  standard  for 
wire-hair  fox  terriers,  which  are  judged  on  same  lines,  except  coat, 
which  in  the  latter  should  be  about  two  inches  long,  and  very  dense 
and  wiry,  not  shaggy  or  woolly,  on  any  account. 

FIELD   TRIALS  — RUNNING   RULES 

(Field  rules  are  about  the  same  in  all  clubs.  In  championship  stakes  the 
heats  are  required  to  be  of  greater  length  than  in  ordinary  open  events  —  usually 
three  hours) 

Dogs  shall  be  drawn  by  lot,  and  numbered  in  the  order  drawn. 
Each  dog  shall  run  in  the  first  series  as  a  brace  with  the  next  avail- 
able dog  in  that  order.  After  the  first  series  has  been  run  through, 
the  judges  shall  announce  which  dogs  they  wish  to  see  run  again 
and  the  order  of  running  them,  and  the  judges  shall  have  the  power 
of  calling  up  and  running  again  any  dog  or  dogs  irrespective  of 
previous  announcements.     Discretion  is  given  the  judges  to  run  the 


3 1 2  Appendix 

dogs  as  often  and  in  whatever  order  they  wish,  until  they  are  satisfied 
which  are  the  best  dogs ;  but  they  may  announce  the  winners  any 
time  after  the  first  series ;  provided  the  first  and  second  prize  winners 
shall  have  run  together. 

The  number  of  times  a  dog  points,  backs,  etc.,  shall  not  necessa- 
rily give  him  the  preference ;  but  the  judges  shall  consider  the  quality 
of  the  performance  rather  than  the  frequency  of  the  occurrence,  and 
shall  give  greater  credit  to  the  dog  showing  in  the  highest  degree 
those  qualities  which  are  essential  to  a  good  field  dog  for  practical 
use.  The  judges  may  run  the  dogs  in  braces  or  separately,  as  they 
may  desire,  the  competing  dog  being  kept  at  heel  when  run  sepa- 
rately. The  standard  of  work  shall  be  a  well-balanced  performance ; 
that  is  to  say,  the  judges  will  consider  the  quality  commonly  called 
"  bird  sense " ;  the  intelligent  and  useful  beating  out  of  the  ground 
within  proper  limits  ;  roading  and  pointing ;  ability  to  find  ;  obedi- 
ence, and  work  to  the  gun  ;  speed,  range,  nose,  and  endurance.  This 
is  intended  to  include  all  the  details,  such  as  backing,  general  train- 
ing, etc.  As  to  ranging,  the  judges  will  consider  long  straightway 
casts  as  faulty  work  if  there  are  available  sections  left  unworked, 
and  if  the  casts  mentioned  are  habitual.  This  shall  not  apply  to  a 
long  cast  taken  intelligently  betimes  to  work  out  a  likely  place  when 
the  ground  is  unfavorable  near  at  hand,  providing  the  dog's  usual 
range  is  good.  Swinging  repeatedly  around  behind  the  handler  at 
the  end  of  a  cast,  working  the  same  ground  over  frequently,  leaving 
repeatedly  good  ground  unworked,  frittering  away  time  on  bare,  un- 
promising ground,  running  with  no  purpose  of  finding,  and  looking 
much  after  the  handler,  are  faulty  methods.  Continual  whistling  and 
assistance  on  the  part  of  the  handler  will  also  lower  the  dog's  per- 
formance. A  dog  must  obey  commands  with  reasonable  prompt- 
ness. Loud  and  continuous  whistling  or  shouting  will  seriously 
impair  a  dog's  standing  in  the  competition.  As  to  pointing,  back- 
ing, roading,  and  drawing,  a  distinction  shall  be  made  between  what 
the  dog  does  himself  and  what  the  handler  does  for  him.  Coaching 
and  helping  a  dog  in  general  when  he  is  on  the  scent  of  birds  must 
lower  the  grade  of  his  performance.  When,  through  the  marking  of 
birds,  one  handler  has  succeeded  in  getting  more  points  for  his  dog 
than  his  competitor,  the  judges  must  consider  the  merit  of  the  dog 
independently  of  his  handler's  assistance.  Working  to  the  gun  is  of 
great  consideration.     Faults  of  puppies  in  this  respect  may  be  treated 


Appendix  313 

more  leniently  than  similar  faults  of  dogs  in  the  all-age  stake.  The 
purpose  of  the  trials  is  to  determine  which  dogs  have  the  best  natural 
qualities  and  are  the  best  field  dogs  for  practical  use. 

The  perfect  training  and  obedience  of  a  dog  shall  not  be  necessary 
to  entitle  him  to  win,  natural  merit  being  paramount.  But  every 
dog  must  be  so  trained  and  under  such  control  as  to  be  susceptible 
of  handling  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  of  use  in  actual  hunting  on 
the  field  and  to  enable  the  judges  to  properly  judge  of  his  merit  as  a 
field  dog.  The  purpose  of  the  bird  dog  being  to  afford  sportsmen 
pleasant  experience  on  the  field,  it  is  necessary  for  every  dog  in  the 
trials  to  be  properly  trained. 


RUNNING  RULES   FOR   BEAGLE  TRIALS 

(National  Beagle  Club  of  America.  Foxhound  trial  rules,  except  that  shoot- 
ing is  not  considered,  are  in  general  on  similar  lines.  Foxhound  trials  do  not 
present  brace  competitions.  The  hounds  are  run  as  a  pack  and  the  losers 
weeded  or  spotted  out) 

After  the  running  of  the  first  series  is  finished,  the  judges  shall 
announce  which  dogs  they  wish  to  see  run  again  and  order  of  run- 
ning them.  Discretion  is  given  the  judges  to  run  the  dogs  as  often 
and  in  what  order  they  think  best,  until  they  are  satisfied  which  are 
the  best  dogs. 

If  competition  is  close,  the  judges  are  requested  to  give  greater 
credit  to  the  dog  that  is  obedient  to  the  commands  of  his  handler. 
A  dog  will  be  expected  to  maintain  an  efficient  range  throughout  a 
heat  and  to  show  hunting  sense  in  his  work.  Hunting  sense  is 
shown  by  the  desire  to  hunt  for  game,  the  selection  of  likely  places 
to  hunt  in,  the  method  of  hunting  the  places,  the  industry  in  staying 
out  at  work,  and  the  skill  in  handling  and  trailing  the  game  after  it 
is  found. 

The  judges  are  instructed  not  to  place  undue  credit  on  speed,  it 
being  the  desire  of  the  Club  that  accuracy  in  trailing,  voice,  endur- 
ance, starting  abilities,  style,  and  obedience  be  the  principal  points 
of  merit,  but  nothing  in  the  foregoing  shall  excuse  a  dog  for  potter- 
ing, or  for  failure  to  leave  his  handler  in  hunting  his  ground.  Every 
dog  will  be  expected  to  go  on  when  ordered,  to  cover  his  ground 
thoroughly,  to  obey  the  commands  of  his  handler,  and  to  show  a 
desire  and  ability  to  find  game  as  well  as  to  drive  it. 


314  Appendix 

In  the  classes  for  packs,  team  work,  not  individual  work,  shall 
count.  The  dogs  will  be  expected  to  hunt  within  easy  distance  of 
one  another,  to  hark  in  quickly,  and  to  drive  at  an  even  speed  well 
packed. 

A  person  selected,  when  ordered  by  the  judges,  shall  discharge 
one  barrel  of  a  gun  over  each  dog  or  brace  of  dogs  while  driving. 
If  the  dog  exhibits  signs  of  gun-shyness,  both  barrels  shall  be  dis- 
charged over  him  on  the  trail.  If  the  dog  is  thus  proved  to  be  gun- 
shy,  he  shall  be  debarred  from  competition  in  the  trials. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Mr.,  owner  of  setters  Dora 

and  Drake,  57. 
Airedale  terriers,  15. 
Alberta  Joe,  34. 
Albert  Lang,  71. 
Albert's  Nellie,  75. 
Albert's  Woodcock,  88-89,  92,  93- 
Alford's  John,  22,  ^S,  82. 
Almo,  64. 

Alonsita  Round,  149. 
Alpine  Lad,  32,  38,  39. 
American  Championship  field  trial, 

263. 
American  Coursing  Board,  124-125. 
American   Kennel   Club    Studbook, 

12,  13,  14. 
American  Waterloo  Cup,  113,  122. 
Anne  of  Abbotsford,  228. 
Antonio,  31,  74,  76,  80,  248,  250. 
Comparison  of,  with  Gladstone, 

202-203. 
Argus,  108. 
Armstrong's  Kate,  66. 
"Ashmont,"  books  of,  239. 
Askins,  Charles,  249-250. 
Astral  Maid,  247. 
Astronomy,  116,  247. 
Australia,      greyhounds      imported 

from,  115. 
Aveline,  loi. 
Avent,  trainer,  223-224, 

Babazoun,  116. 

Bacchanal,  166. 

Backing,  232-233. 

Bang  (Trinket's),  31,  34,  183,  248. 


Bang  Bang,  27,  29. 
Bannerman,  145,  149. 
Barkby  Ben,  166. 
Baronet,  149. 
Bartelses,  the,  117. 
Barton  Tory,  88. 
Birdsong,  136. 

Bishop,  Mr.,  promoter  of  Irish  set- 
ters, lOO-IOI. 
Beagles,  i,  143-155. 

Appearance,  149-150. 

Bench-show  standard  for,  309. 

Cottontails  and,  152-153. 

Field  trials  for,  263. 

Fox  terriers  and,  165. 

Kennels  of,  145,  148. 

Packs  of,  148,  1 5 1- 1 54,  208. 

Running  rules  in  field  trials,  313. 

Training  unnecessary  with,  234. 
Beau  Brummel,  93. 
Beaudesart  setters,  57. 
Beaumont,  108,  109. 
Bell,  W.  S.,  9. 
Belle,  39. 

Belle  of  Hard  Bargain,  43. 
Belmont,  108,  109. 
Belmont,  August,  165-166. 
Belton  (Bolus's),  50,  67,  246. 
Beltons,  87-88. 
Bench  shows,  benefit  from,  254-255. 

Chicago  (1901),  92. 

Classes  at,  257-258. 

First  American,  256. 

Kansas  City  (1900),  92. 

Mineola,  N.Y.  (1874),  256. 

New  York  (1889),  29. 


315 


3i6 


Index 


Bench  shows  \_contimied'\  — 
St.  Louis  (1897),  124,  173. 
St.  Louis  (1899),  37. 
"Westminster  Kennel  Club(i876), 
256. 

Bendigo,  109. 

Ben  Law,  92. 

Beppo  II,  29. 

Bergundthal's  Fanny,  65. 

Bergundthal's  Rake,  48,  57,  64-65, 

245- 
Berkeley,  103,  204,  205. 
Bertraldo,  29. 
Betty  B.,  249. 
Bettye  S.,  74. 
Blackstone,  34. 
Blaze,  63. 

Blemton  kennels,  165. 
Blinking,  284-285. 
Blitz,  149. 
Bloomo,  29. 

Blue  beltons,  42,  43,  87,  91. 
Blue  Ridge  Kennel,  250. 
Bob  White,  the,  5. 
Bohemian  Girl,  73-74,  177. 
Bolting,  172-173,  287-288. 
Bolus's  Belton,  50,  67,  246. 
Bones,  danger  of  feeding,  to  dogs, 

237- 

Boomerang,  117. 

Bopeep,  65. 

Boston  terriers,  2,  15,  162,  257. 

Bow,  28,  206. 

Bracken  o'  Leek,  89. 

Bracket,  29. 

Bradley,  S.  C,  35. 

Brake,  29. 

Breaking,  question   of,  in  shooting- 
dogs,   197-199- 

Breeding,  241-253. 

British  vs.  American,  4-5. 

Breese,  James  L.,  265. 

Breeze  Gladstone,  73. 

Britain  Still,  116. 

Brown,  E.  J.,  124. 


Brunswick  Fur  Club  trials  (1903), 

142. 
Bryson,  David,  60,  68. 
Bryson,  P.  H.,  9,  60,  68,   188-189, 

199-203. 
Buckell,  Mr.  Teasdale-,  42,  43,  49, 

50,  66,  68,  223. 
Buck  Jr.,  206. 
Burges,  Arnold,  57. 
Butte,  coursing  at,  114-115. 

Cairnsmuir   kennels    (fox    terriers), 

165. 
Caliph,  122. 

Cameron's  Racket,  145. 
Campbell  setters,  67-68,  206. 
Canada,  dogs  for  shooting  in,  194- 

197. 
Captain  Jack,  82. 
Cap  Tough,  81. 
Care  of  dogs,  235-240. 
Carmen,  122. 

Carnochan,  Mr.,  proprietor   Cairns- 
muir kennels,  165,  166. 
Carroll  Island  Club,   159,  160,   i6l, 

162. 
Castleman's  Rex,  loi. 
Champion  Bang,  26. 
Champion  Bow,  28,  206. 
Champion  Mike,  30. 
Chance,  74. 
Charging,  233. 
Chesapeake  Bay  dogs,  2, 14, 156-163. 

Bench-show  standard  for,  307. 

Origin  of,  158. 
Chicken  trials,  39. 
Chief,  103. 
Chimer,  144. 
Chiquita,  46-47. 
Cincinnatus,  62,  75. 

False  pointing  by,  1 69-1 70. 
Cincinnatus's   Pride,  52,  75-76,  96, 

228,  246. 
Class,  definition  of  term,  21 1. 
Claude  Duval,  166. 


Index 


317 


Claudian,  166. 

Clip  Wind'em,  221. 

Cloud,  145. 

Clubs,  field  trial,  264-265. 

Hunt,  in  America,  1 27-129. 
Clumber  spaniels,  i. 
Clyde,  76,  146. 
Cocker  spaniels,  i,  179-180. 

For  ruffed  grouse,  177. 
Cole,  James,  90,  246. 
Coleraine,  loi. 
Cole's  Lady,  90. 
Collies,  I,  15,  257. 
Colonel  R.,  78-79,  191-194. 
Color,  of  English  setters,  40-45. 

Importance  of,  in  quail-shooting, 
46-47. 
Colors,  preferred,  for  pointers  and 

setters,  177. 
Conformation,  importance  of,  3-4. 
Consolation,  27. 
Contango,  115. 
Cooke,  Charles  B.,  81. 
Coomassie,  255. 
'Coon  dogs,  154-155- 

Fox  terriers  as,  165. 
Copper  Coin,  39. 
Cora  of  Wetheral,  87. 
Cornerstone,  29. 
Cottontails  and  beagles,    143,    152- 

153- 
Count  Danstone,  52,  71. 
Count  Eric,  31. 
Countess,  56,  85. 
Countess  Bear,  42,  63. 
Countess  Meteor,  45,  71-72. 
Count  Fauster,  30. 
Count  Gladstone  IV,  70-71,  83,  182, 

248. 
Count  Howard,  13,  87,  90. 
Count  Hunter,  68. 
Count   Noble,    57,    61-62,   73,    169, 

248. 
Count  Noble  setters,  12,  13,  15-16. 
Count  Whitestone,  43,  44,  80. 


Count  "Wind'em,  42,  61. 
Coursing,  1 10-123. 
Judges  in,  263. 
Crawford  Lad,  114. 
Crocker,  George,  35,  265. 
Croxteth,  27. 

Croxteth  pointers,  25,  183. 
Cuba  Jr.,  22. 
Currer  Bell  III,  102. 
Currer  Bell  IV,  102. 
Currer  Maid,  102. 

Dad  Wilson,  62. 

Dager,  Mr.,  owner  of  setters,  75,  170. 

Daisy  F.,  51,  63,  68. 

Daisy  Hope,  63,  68,  177. 

Daisy  Hunter,  43,  63,  68. 

Dakota,  119,  124. 

Dan  (Llewellin's),  60,  64. 

Dan  (Statter's),  56. 

Dan  Gladstone,  72-73,  250. 

Dan  Maloney,  161. 

Danforth's  Nick,  flushing  by,  172. 

Dan's  Lady,  71,  79,  191. 

Dart,  65. 

Dash  II,  42,  49,  66. 

Dash  Antonio,  77,  182. 

Dashing  Bondhu,  66. 

Dashing  Dixie,  80-81. 

Dashing  Lavellette,  66-67. 

Dashing  Monarch,  66. 

Dave  Earl,  71. 

Exhibition  by  Joe  Gumming  and, 
217-218. 
Davidson,  John,  10,  81,  86. 
Delhi,  31. 
Desmond  II,  104. 
Devereux,  H.  K.,  188,  189-193. 
Devonshire  setters,  26. 
Dexter,  Col.  Edward,  6,  25. 
Diana,  11 7-1 18. 
Dick  Bondhu,  17. 
Dick  (Statter's),  56. 
Dido  II,  62. 
Diffenderfer,  W.  Stewart,  144-145. 


3i8 


Index 


Diseases  of  dogs,  240. 

Dixie's  Rod,  81. 

Doc  Hick,  175-176. 

Doc's  light,  32. 

Dog  shows.     See  Bench  shows. 

Dolly,  144,  147. 

Domoko,  80. 

Don  (Arnold's),  109. 

Don  (Vandervort's),  30. 

Donald  Bane,  90. 

Don's  Nellie,  249. 

Dora,  44,  57,  245. 

Dorsey,  Pottinger,  144. 

Dorsey's  Pilot,  144,  149. 

Dot  (Pearl's),  28,  31,  249. 

Dot  II,  36-37. 

Dot's  Daisy,  32. 

Dot's  Jingo,  32. 

Dot's  Pearl,  31-32,  248. 

Dover,  122. 

Downham  Victor,  109. 

Drake,  26,  34,  57. 

Drillmaster,  32. 

Druid,  44,  57,  62. 

Duke  of  Edgeworth,  108. 

Duke  Elcho,  loi. 

Duke  (Field's),  56. 

Duke  of  Hessen,  29,  32-33,  248. 

Duke-Rhoebe  combination,  57-58. 

Duke  of  Vernon,  29.  * 

Duke  of  York,  39. 

Duryea,  Herman,  83,  265. 

Dusky  Don  II,  166. 

Dusky  Trap,  166. 

Edwards,   Harry   R.,    79,    187-188 

189-194. 
Elcho,  68,  103,  104,  204-205. 
Elcho  Jr.,  103. 
Elcho's  Maid,  loi. 
Emin  Pasha,  121,  122. 
English  setters,  12,  40-52,  96. 

Bench-show  standards  for,  301. 

Cheerfulness  of  temper  of,  183- 
184. 


English  setters  \_continued'\  — 

Preference  for,  in  America,  13-16. 
See  Laveracks  and  Llewellins. 

Erin,  103,  205-206. 

Erin  II,  100, 

Ethan  Allen  family,  78. 

Exhibitions.     See  Bench  shows. 

Fabulous  Fortune,  1 14. 

Fair  Helen,  122. 

False  pointing,  169-171. 

Fanny  Murnan,  72,  250. 

Faust,  28,  204,  206-208. 

Fear  Not,  119. 

Females,  working  of  pregnant,  239- 

240. 
Fernkas,  Mr.,  owner  of  K.  C.  Kent, 

Fiddler,  148. 

Field  Dog  Studbook,  13-14. 

Field's  Duke,  56. 

Field  spaniels,  i. 

Field   trials,   benefit   derived   from, 

254-255- 

Beginning  of,  258. 

Date  of  establishment,  in  Eng- 
land, 53. 

Judges  at,  259,  261-262. 

Methods  of  judging  at,  258-259. 

Number  of  annual,  263. 

Running  rules,  311-313. 

Unimportance  of,  in  England,  55. 
Fingal  III,  loi. 
Fingalin,  loi. 
Finglas,  loi. 
Fitzhugh  Lee,  144,  146. 
Flirt  o'  Leek,  89. 
Florist,  148. 
Flushing,   fault    of,    1 71-172,    289- 

290. 
Food  for  dogs,  237-238. 
Forester,  Frank,  177. 
For  Freedom,  121. 
Fortuna  Favente,  114,  I2I. 
Foxhounds,  i,  2,  10,  126-142, 


Index 


319 


Foxhounds  \_continued~\  — 

Bench-show  standard  for  English, 
308-309. 

Enghsh  vs.  American,  141-142. 

Families  of,  in  the  South,  134. 

Field  trials  for,  263. 

"Miniature,"  149-150,  155. 

Packs  of,  10,  127-129. 

Training  unnecessary  with,  234. 
Fox-hunting,  126-133. 

American  vs.  English,   1 31-132. 

Ladies  and,  1 30-1 31. 
Fox  terriers,  15,  164-167,  257. 

Bench-show  standard  for,  310. 

Specimens  of,  166. 
Franke,  Mr.,  importer  of  Luck  of 

the  Goat,  2)3- 
Frank  Forest,  146,  149. 
Fred,  64. 
Fred  Elcho,  104. 
Freeland,  148. 
Friend,  100. 
Frisco,  104. 
Furlough  Mike,  36. 

Gath,59,  69,  177,  246. 

Comparison  of,  with  Gladstone, 
200-201. 
Gath's  Hope,  69,  76,  loi,  246,  250. 
Gath's  Mark,  69,  201-202,  250. 

Example  of  inbreeding,  246. 
Gem,  69,  102,  246. 
Geneva,  59,  76,  264. 
Gentry,  Laurence,  149. 
Georgia  Belle,  63. 
Geraldine,  245. 
Gilda,  119,  122. 
Gilhooley,  87,  88. 
Gilkirk,  119. 
Girl,  65. 

Gladstone,  57,  59-61,  67,  177,  189, 
248. 

Later  Llewellins  compared  with, 
199-203. 
Gladstone's  Boy,  72,  200. 


Gladstone  setters,  12,  13,  15-16,  18. 

Gleam,  50,  63,  77,  80. 

Gleam  blood,  77,  80,  82. 

Gleam's  Pink,  63-64. 

Gleam's  Sport,  63-64,  77,  250. 

Gleason,  Andy,  249. 

Glendyne  greyhounds,  1 16. 

Glenkirk,  119. 

Go  Bang,  166. 

Godeffroy,  Mr.,  owner  of  Croxteth, 

27. 
Gorham's  Jing,  32. 
Gossip,  250. 
Gould,  George  J.,  36. 
Gould,   Jay,   as   an    illustration    of 

"class,"  212-213. 
Gordon  Setter  Club,  109. 
Gordon  setters,  12,  14,  20,  105-109. 

Bench-show  standard  for,  307. 

Coloring,  106-107. 

Origin,  106-107. 

Specimens  of,  108-109, 

Uncertainty  of  temper  of,  183- 
184. 
Grace,  James,  114. 
Grace,  John,  114,  121,  263. 
Graphic,  29,  38. 
Gray,  George,  100,  189. 
Graydon,  H.  Marshall,  92,  187-188, 

194-197. 
Greentick,  115,  116,  120. 
Greyhounds,  i,  2,  1 10-125. 

Bench-winners,  123-124. 

Breeding-results  with,  247. 

Food  of,  238. 

Jack-rabbits  and,  115. 

Training,  234-235,  238. 
Grouse,  cockers  for  hunting,  177. 
Grousedale,  68. 
Guinotte,  Judge,  29,  80. 
Gun-shyness,  171,  233. 
Gus  Bondhu,  17. 

Guthrie,  Mr.,  promoter  of  Irish  set- 
ters, 105. 
Guyasuta  beagles,  148,  151. 


320 


Index 


Hair,  Dr.  J.  E.,  lo,  89,  93. 

Hal  Pointer,  33. 

Hall,  Dr.  Stanley,  184-185. 

Hamlet,  26. 

Harold,  69. 

Harold  Skimpole,  190. 

Harris,  Miles,  137. 

Harvard,  190. 

Harwick,  67,  79,  190,  191,  193. 

Hearst,  Mrs.,  71. 

"Heat"  system  of  judging  at  field 

trials,  259. 
Heather  Donald,  108. 
Heather  Lad,  108. 
Herschel,  115. 
Hester  Prynne,  71. 
Hi  Di,  loi. 

Highland  Fleet,  87,  88,  92,  93. 
Hope  Boru,  loi. 
Hops,  25,  30-31. 
Hornell- Harmony  kennels,  145. 
Hotspur,  117. 
Hounds,  pure  English,  139-142.    See 

Beagles  and  Foxhounds. 
Hudson,  Shelley,  73. 
Hudspeth,    Mr.,    foxhounds   owned 

by,  129. 
Hughes,  Colonel,  pointers  imported 

for,  207. 
Hulman,    Mr.,    organizer    of    Blue 

Ridge  Kennel,  250, 
Hunt  clubs,  American,  127. 
Hydrophobia,  240. 

"Idstone"  (Rev.  Mr.  Pierce),  84. 
Inbreeding,  244-246. 

Dr.  Stark's  experiments   in,  65, 

245- 
Of  foxhounds,  138. 
Interstate  Championship  field  trials, 

43,  78,  263. 
Irish  Setter  Club,  101-102. 
Irish    setters,    12,    14,   20,   97-105, 
204-206. 
Bench-show  standard  for,  306. 


Irish  setters  \_cottHmied'\  — 

Bench-show  winners,  102-104. 

Coloring,  104-105. 

Field  trial  performances,  101-102. 

Retrieving  by,  157. 

Uncertainty  of  temper  of,  183. 
Irish   water-spaniels,    14,    156,    158, 
160-161,  162-163. 

Bench-show  standard  for,  310. 
Island  Boy,  39. 

Jack-rabbits  and  greyhounds,  115. 
Jealousy,  fault  of,  1 73,  232,  288-289, 

290-291. 
Jeff  (Mason's),  51,  68. 
Jester,  117. 
Jester,   Mr.,  owner  of  "Wild  Rake, 

245- 
Jim  o'the  Hill,  119,  122. 
Jingo,  16,  32,  34,  177,  183,  248. 

Late  development  of,  228-229. 
Jingo  Boy  (Speck's),  39. 
Jingo's  Light,  32,  183,  207. 

Gun-shyness  of,  171. 
Jingo's  Pearl,  32. 
Joe  Cumming,  77,  264. 

Exhibition  of  "class"  by,  216- 
218. 
Joe  Jr.,  68,  100,  204. 
John  (Alford's),  22,  38,  82. 
Johnson,  Thomas,  34. 
Jolly  G.,  109. 
Judging,    in    coursing    greyhounds, 

113. 

In  field  trials,  258-264. 
Judy,  142. 
July,  137-138. 

July-Birdsong  foxhounds,  1 34-138. 
Just  Eclipsed,  116. 

Kate  (Armstrong's),  66. 
K.  C.  Kent,  2>?„  34- 
Keene,  Foxhall,  10,  129. 
Kennels,  235-236.     See  Packs. 
Kennerly,  W.  C,  245. 


Index 


321 


Kent  Elgin,  33. 

Kentucky,  beagles  in,  149. 

Kernochan,   Mr.,  owner  of  Hemp- 
stead pack,  148-149. 

Keswick,  204. 

Khartoum,  31. 

King  Cyrano,  32,  47,  175,  183. 
Quality  of  "class"  in,  218-219. 

King  Death,  115. 

King  of  Kent,  16,  25,  29,  30-31,  33, 
34,  38,  248. 

Kingston,  death  of,  caused  by  bone, 

237- 
Krueger,  A.  C,  145. 

Ladies,  and  fox-hunting,  1 30-1 31. 

Beagle   packs   as   an    attraction 
for,   153. 
Lad  of  Bow,  29,  34,  183. 
Lad  of  Jingo,  32,  39,  82. 
Lad  of  Rush,  34. 
Lady  Cole,  90-91,  246. 
Lady  Finglas,  102. 
Lady  Gay  Spanker,  36. 
Lady  Maud  Mannering,  171. 
Lady  May,  249. 
Lady  Rachel,  71. 
Lady's  Count,  71. 
Lady's  Count  Gladstone,  59,  71,  79, 

264. 
Lady  Swiveller,  102. 
Lane,  Charles  H.,  8,  310. 
Lansdowne  Malt,  39. 
Lass  of  Bow,  29. 

Latrobe,  Gen.  FerdinandC,  158-160. 
Laundress,  250. 
Laura  B.,  103. 
Laverack,  Edward,  17,  19. 
Laverack  setters,  12,  13,  14,  16,  18- 
19,  55-56,  84-96. 

Breeding  difficulties,  94-95. 

Colors,  93. 

Faults  of,  85. 

Foundation    dogs    of    Llewellin 
breed,  57. 
V 


Laverack  setters  \_coiiiinued'\  — 

Hunting  qualities,  94. 

Importance  of,  in  America,  85-86. 

Llewellins  vs.,  95-96. 

Size  of,  58. 

Specimens  of,  87-93. 

"Straight-bred,"  49-51. 

Value  of,  19. 
Ledbetter,  H.  B.,  77,  81. 
Lee,  144,  208. 
Lee  H,  144. 
Lee,  Rawdon,  8. 
Leicester,  57,  62-63, 
Leigh  Doane,  104. 
Lemon-and-whites  (Llewellins),  42. 

Gleam  line  of,  64. 
Lill,  85. 
Lill  H,  63. 
LiUian  Russell,  83. 
Lily  Burges,  250. 
Lincoln,  57,  63. 
Lit,  65,  68. 
Little  Boy,  108. 
Little  Fairy,  247. 
Llewellin,  Mr.,  42. 
Llewellin  setters,  12,  13,  14,  16-18, 

53-83- 

Coloring  of,  41-42. 

Defined,  13. 

Foundations  of,  57-58. 

Gladstone  compared  with  later, 
199-203. 

Jealousy  an  attribute  of,  232. 

Origin  of,  54-57. 

Pure  (so-called),  48-51. 

Qualities,  mental,  58-59. 

Size  of,  58,  59. 

Specimens  of,  55-56,  59-83,  96. 

"  Straight-bred,"  49-51. 

Weight  (normal),  59. 
London,  93. 
Lonely,  148,  149. 
Lonsdale,  Heywood,  34. 
Loo  n,  103,  204. 
Lora,  72. 


322 


Index 


Lord  Clifton,  Ii8. 

Lord  Lismore,  92,  102-103,  104. 

Lord  Neversettle,  117,  119. 

Lorillard,  Pierre,  6,  265. 

Lou,  I02,  144-145. 

Lowe,  F.  C,  116. 

Lowe,  H.  C,  1 1 6- 1 1 7,  174. 

Lucas,  J.  B.  C,  28. 

Lucifer,  166. 

Luck  of  the  Goat,  31,  33-34. 

Luse,  D.  C,  116. 

Maclin,  Dr.,  189. 

McDougall,  Mr.,  owner  of  Tatlah, 

114. 
MacEachran,     Dr.,     authority     on 

hounds,   128. 
McKinley,  82-83,  96. 
McMurdo,  Captain,  25,  31,  32. 
Madam  Llewellin,  245. 
Madcap,  89. 
Mad-dog  scare,  240. 
Madison,  P.  T.,  9,  65,  76. 
Maffitt,  Charles  C,  28. 
Magician,  119,  124,  173. 
Maiden  Mine,  63-64. 
Maid  of  Kent,  31. 
Mainspring,  25,  30,  33,  34,  lOl. 
Malcolm,  Harry,  107-108. 
Mallory,  J.  D.,  160. 
Mallwyd  Sirdar,  86,  89. 
Malt,  33. 

Manchester  Kennel,  250. 
Manitoba  Derby,  the,  8. 
Marie's  Sport,  22,  52,  59,  67,  77,  81, 

182,  190. 
Marse  Ben,  64,  79-80. 

Exhibition  of  "class"  by,   219- 

220. 
Specimen  of  inbreeding,  246. 
Mason's  Jeff,  51,  68. 
Master  Dennis,  119. 
Master  McGrath,  255. 
Master  Peter,  118. 
Mather,  Charles  E.,  10,  128,  133. 


Maupin,  Wash,  134-135. 

Maxim,  207-208. 

Maximus,  25. 

Meally,  29,  39. 

Mecca,  64. 

Mecca  II,  80. 

Medicines  for  dogs,  236-237. 

Meersbrook  Bristles,  166. 

Melita,  118,  124. 

Mellier,  Walter,  73. 

Mendel's  law  applied  to  dogs,  252. 

Merrill,  Richard,  74. 

Meteor,  28,  207-208. 

Middlesex  Hunt  beagles,  148,  152. 

Mike,  30. 

Miller's  Rab,  119,  120,  173. 

Mills,  Dr.  Wesley,  239. 

Mingo,  74-75- 

Miniature  foxhounds,  149-150,  155. 

Miss  Glendyne,  116. 

Missouri  Field  Trial  Club,  33. 

Miss  Ruby,  72. 

Miss  Rumor,  36. 

"  Modern  Laverack  "  defined,  14. 

Mohawk,  22,  45,  59,  67,  70,  71-72, 

76,  80,  83,  203. 
Exhibitions  of  "  class "  by,  223- 

224. 
Monk  of  Furness,  13,  87-88,  90,  94. 
Monsoon,  122,  247, 
Montreal  Hunt  Club,  128-129. 
Moore,  A.  H.,  103,  205. 
Moore,  Dr.  W.  G.,  82. 
Mortimer,  James,  lo,  91,  92. 
Mountain,  136-137. 
Mulcaster,  Edward,  119. 
Munson,  John  W.,  28. 
Muse,  136-137. 
Mystic  Maid,  119,  247. 

Naso    of  Kippen   blood  in    Jingo's 

Light,  38. 
National  Championship  Association, 

264. 
Nebraska  Derby,  the,  8. 


Index 


3n 


Nellie,  56,  85. 

Nesbitt,  Mr.,  handler  of  Jingo,  32. 

Nora,  61. 

Norfolk  kennels,  165. 

Northern  Surprise,  1 19. 

Nugget  II,  102. 

Oakley  Hill,  79,  90,  96. 

O'Bannon,  P.  H.,  245,  250. 

Old  Fannie,  51,  68. 

Old  Moll,  84. 

"  Old  pie  "  bitches,  249. 

Orange-and-whites  (Llevvellins),  42. 

Value  of,  in  quail-shooting,  47. 
Orange  beltons,  88. 
Orangeman  (beagle),  148. 
Orangeman  (Llevvellin  setter),  88. 
Orgill,  Mr.,  exhibitor  of  pointers,  256. 
Orlando,  74. 
Orthwein,  Ralph,  119. 
Ortiz  Lad,  43,  47. 
Osborne  Ale,  33. 
Ossian,  27,  183. 

Oughten,   Dr.,   Gordon   setters  im- 
ported by,  108. 

Packs,  beagle,  148,  151-154. 

Foxhound,  10,  127-129. 
Palmerston,  245. 
Pape  pointers,  25. 
Parry,  Arthur,  145,  I46. 
Partera,  117,  119. 
Partridge  shooting,  qualities  in  dogs 

essential  for,  195. 
Pathfinder,  114. 
Patria,  118. 
Patricius,  102. 
Paul  Bo,  74,  177. 
Paul  Gladstone,  73. 
Pearl's  Dot,  28,  31,  249. 
Pearl's  Fan,  31,  34. 
Pearlstone,  31. 
Pease,  James,  265. 
Pedigree,   question    of,  in   choosing 

dogs,  1 81-186. 


Peep  o'  Day,  69. 

Peeress,  85. 

Percival  Jingo,  32,  78. 

Petrel,  60,  85. 

Phantom,  85. 

Philadelphia,  hunt  clubs  about,  127. 

Pierce,  Rev.  Mr.  ("  Idstone  "),  84. 

Pilgrim,  148. 

Pilot  (Dorsey's)  144,  149. 

Pin  Money,  43. 

Plain  Sam,  33,  183. 

Pointers,  I,  12,  16,  24-39,  207-208. 

Bench-show  standard  for,  301. 

G.  J.  Gould's,  36. 

Gun-shyness  of,  2T,t,. 

"Natives,"  24. 

Pedigree  dicta  for,  183. 

Prairie  chicken  and,  178-179. 

Preferred  colors  for,  177. 

vs.  setters,  19-20. 
Pontiac,  29. 
Ponto,  84. 
Prairie  chicken,  field  trials  on,  263. 

Pointers  for  hunting,  178-179. 
Pretender,  118- 119,  122. 
Pretti  Sing,  76. 
Priam,  ZZ- 
Primate,  148. 
Prime  Minister,  71. 
Prince  Bloomfield,  102,  103. 
Prince  Charlie,  117,  119. 
Prince  Lucifer,  182. 
Prince  Lyndon,  78,  81-82. 
Prince  Rodney,  44,  80,  96. 

Exhibition  of  "class"   by,  219- 
220. 
Princess  Alice,  39. 
Princess  Beatrice,  87. 
Princess  Kate,  26. 
Prince  Victor,  104. 
Psyche,  57. 
Ptarmigan,  115. 

Quail  (Irish  setter),  245. 
Quail,  field  trials  on,  263. 


324 


Index 


Quail  \_continued']  — 

Setters  for  hunting,  179. 

Quail-shooting,  in  Canada,  195. 
Importance  of  color  of  dogs  in, 
45-46. 

Queen  II,  32. 

Queen  Fan,  29. 

Queen's  Place  Pride,  22,  89. 
"Class"  quality  of,  210-21 1. 

Queen  Vic,  52. 

Quickstitch,  118,  124. 

Rabbit  dogs,  fox  terriers  as,  165. 
Rabbits,  annoyance  caused  trainers 

by,  233-234. 
Raccoon  hunting,  154-155. 
Rachel,  166. 

Racket  (Cameron's),  145. 
Rake  (Bergundthal's),  48,  57,  64-65, 

245- 
Ranger  (Macdona's),  66. 
Rank  (Scudder's),  25. 
Rap's  Pointer,  39. 
Rattler  III,  145. 
Ready  II,  100. 
Retrievers,  water,  i. 
Retrieving,  fault  of,  232,  285-286. 

From  w^ater,  156. 
Revel  III,  29. 
Rex  (Castleman's),  30. 
Rhoebe,  31,  42,  56-57,  58,  64. 
Richards,  trainer,  228. 
Riding    to    hounds,    127,    129-132, 

152-153- 
Ringwood,  148,  149. 
Riot,  146-147. 
Rip  Rap,  26,  31,  ZZ,  34»  35-36,  183, 

248. 
Ripstone,  31,  183. 
Robert  le  Diable,  27,  36. 
Robinson,  Charles  A.,  81,  117-118. 
Rockingham,  87. 

Rock  Ridge  beagles,  148,  151-152. 
Roderigo,  59,  70-71,  182,  201,  202, 

248. 


Roderigo-Bopeep  family,  74. 
Rodfield,  45,  59,  69,  74,  76,  182. 

Compared  vi'ith  Gladstone,  202. 
Rodfield's  Pride  (Cov^^ley's),  43,  47, 

78. 
Rogers,  Dr.,  field  trial  judge,  176- 

177. 
Roger  Williams,  27. 
Roi  d'Or,  76. 
Roman  Athlete,  114. 
Romp,  26,  30. 
Rose,  Dave,  249,  250. 
Ross,  Major  A.  J.,  37. 
Rosseter,  J.  H.,  121. 
Rosy,  144. 

Rowdy  Rod,  31,  248. 
Rowett,  General,  144. 
Royal  Crest,  120,  122. 
Royal  Duke,  108. 
Royal  Forest,  146. 
Royal  Krueger,  145. 
Royal  Prince  II,  87. 
Royce,  Dr.  G.  I.,  116. 
Rubber  Ankles,  114. 
Ruby,  64. 

Ruby  Glenmore,  loi. 
Rumney  Racket,  89. 
Rumney  Ranger,  89,  93. 
Rumor,  29. 

Sacramento  Boy,  122. 

Sailor,  146,  149. 

St.  Clair,  114,  118. 

St.  Lawrence,  118. 

St.  Louis,  duck-shooting  about,  157. 

St.  Louis  Kennel  Club,  25,  28,  36, 

204. 
Sally  Brass,  35. 
Sally  Brass  II,  29. 
Salter,  Dr.,  26. 
Sam  (beagle),  144. 
Sam  (Llewellin's),  50. 
Sam,    Lord   Sefton's   (pointer),  26, 

28,  34- 
Sanborn,  David,  61. 


Index 


Z'^S 


Sandor  von  Inn,  92. 

San  Francisco,  coursing  in,  120-122. 

Sarsfield,  100. 

Scandal,  119. 

Schaefer,  Jacob,  as  an  example  of 

"class,"  213-214. 
Scotland  Yet,  115. 
Scudder,  Charles  W.,  97-98. 
Sefton-Edge  combination,  26. 
Selah,  31. 
Selkirk  Dan,  96. 
Senator  P.,  35. 
Sensation,  26. 
Setters,  coloring  of,  40-45,  177. 

Gun-shyness  of,  233. 

Hunting  with,  17,  178,  179. 

Qualities  of,  to  be  judged,  86. 

vs.  pointers,  19-20. 

See  English  setters,  Gordon  set- 
ters, Irish  setters,  Laver- 
acks,  atid  Llewellins. 
Seven-Up,  68. 

False  pointing  by,  1 70-1 71. 
Shattuc,  General,  9,  206. 
Shaun,  102. 
Sheldon,  87. 

Shellhass,  Mr.,  beagles  bred  by,  145. 
Shirley,  142. 

Short,  Mr.,  handler  of  Gath,  201. 
Shows.     See  Bench  shows. 
Sioux,  59,  71,  221,  264. 
Sir  Walter,  37. 
Skip,  146. 
Sleaford,  28. 

Sleeping-places  for  dogs,  235. 
Smith,  L.  H.,  60,  85. 
Snipe,  use  of  dogs  in  hunting,  178. 
Snipe  shooting  in  Canada,  196. 
Somerset  kennels  (beagles),  145. 
Spaniels,  quality  of  companionship, 
180.     See  Cocker  spaniels 
and  Irish  water-spaniels. 
Spinaway,  204. 
Sport  McAllister,  76. 
Sport's  Belle,  77,  193-194. 


Sport's  Boy,  43,  47,  77,  81,  182,  215- 

216. 
Sport's  Destiny,  78. 
Sport's  Gath,  77,  81,  96. 

False  pointing  by,  171. 
Sport's  Lady,  78,  182. 
Sportsman,  73. 

Sport's  Solomon,  77,  81,  182. 
Spot  Cash,  63-64,  189. 
Spotted  Boy,  28. 
"  Spotting "   system   of   judging  at 

field  trials,   259. 
Spring,  30. 
Spring  Dot,  218. 

Squirrel  dogs,  fox  terriers  as,  165. 
Stark,  Dr.,  experiments  in  breeding 

by,  65,  245. 
Startle,  39. 
Statter,   Mr.,  setters  bred  by,   56- 

57- 
Sterling,  E.  C,  28. 
Stevenson,  Fred  M.,  196. 
Stewart,  Redmond,  128. 
"Stonehenge"  (Dr.  Walsh),  8,  56, 

84. 
Storm,  145. 
Strideaway,  31. 
Stubble,  107-108. 
Sue,  65,  72,  201. 
Sue  H.,  90,  92. 
Superstitions  concerning   treatment 

of  dogs,  239-240. 
Sure  Shot,  47,  82. 
Sylvia,  118,  124. 

Tallman,  William,  10. 

Tammany,  30. 

Tam  o'  Shanter,  90. 

Tan  markings  of  Llewellins,  42. 

Tapster,  31. 

Tatlah,  114. 

Taylor,  Major,  9,  75. 

Teasdale-Buckell,    Mr.,  42,  43,  49, 

50,  66,  68,  223. 
Temper  of  setter  breeds,  183-184. 


326 


Index 


Terriers.      See  Boston  terriers  attd 

Fox  terriers. 
The  O'Donoghue,  i6i. 
Thomas,  George  C,  Jr.,  89,  96. 
Thor,  205-206. 
Thornfield  Knockout,  166. 
Thoughtless  Beauty,  1 14. 
Thunder,  86. 
Tiburon,  114,  122. 
Tick  Boy,  33. 
Tillie  Boru,  100. 
Tim,  102,  103. 
Titus,  W.  W.,  245,  249. 
Toledo  Blade,  75. 
Tony  Boy,  59,  71.  74.  7^,  182,  248. 

Result  of  inbreeding,  246. 
Tony  Man,  76. 
Tony's  Gale,  77,  264. 
Topgallant,  92. 
Topsy's  Rod,  67,  248. 
Tory  Fashion,  190. 
Tracy,  J.  M.,  27,  205. 
Training,  226-235. 

Sketch  illustrative  of,  280-291. 
Training  period,  duration  of,  228. 
Trales,  the  (greyhounds),  1 16. 
Trap  Jr.,  78,  190,  191. 
Trigg,  Hayden  C.,  136. 
Trigg  foxhounds,  134-136. 
Trinket's  Bang,  31,  34,  183,  248. 
Truman,  148. 
Tuberose,  64. 

Turner,  Charles  H.,  28,  204-209. 
Two  Spot,  32. 

Ulverstone  Rap,  89-90. 
Uncle  B.,  79,  191-192. 
Updike,  trainer,  172,  218. 

Vandergrift,  Mr.,  importer  and  ex- 
hibitor, 88-89,  104,  108. 
Vandervort's  Don,  30. 
Van  Hummell,  Dr.  Q.,  116. 
Varner,  William  I.,  133. 
Verdure  Clad,  116. 


Vicary  terriers,  166. 
Vic's  Vic,  68,  92. 
Victress,  85. 
Voorhees,  Martin,  1 87-1 J 


197-199. 


Waddell,  A.  C,  65. 

Wadsworth,  Major,  10,  1 27- 1 28. 

Walker  foxhounds,  134-135. 
Coloring,  136. 

Walsh,  Dr.  ("  Stonehenge  "),  8,  56, 
84. 

Warren  kennels,  165. 

Warrior,  208. 

Warwick  Nellie,  lOi. 

Washington,  Mr,,  kennel  of  Irish 
setters  owned  by,  100. 

Waterloo  Cup  stake,  no,  255. 

Water  retrievers,  i,  2. 

Water-spaniels.  See  Irish  water- 
spaniels. 

Watson,  Herbert,  120. 

Weems,  Mr.,  experience  vi^ith  a 
daughter  of  Cincinnatus, 
170. 

Wenzel,  Mr.,  supporter  of  Irish 
setters,  100,  103. 

Westminster  Kennel  Club,  25. 

Wheatley,  W.  A.,  68. 

Whip,  107. 

Whippet  racing,  125. 

White-black-tan,  American  prefer- 
ence for,  41-42,  48. 

White  Lips,  117,  249. 

Whitford,  C.  B.,  205-206,  208-209. 

Wildcat  hunting,  127. 

Wild  Rake,  245. 

William  H.,  100. 

WiUiams,  Col.  Roger  D.,  116. 

Wilson,  B.  F.,  61. 

Windholz,  Mr.,  modern  Laveracks 
owned  by,  87. 

Winged  Foot,  122. 

Winner's  Victoria,  91-92. 

Wire-hair  terriers,  166. 

Wolf-hunting,  126-127. 


Index 


327 


Woodcock  (Laverack  setter),  88 

92,  93- 
Woodcock,  in  Canada,  196. 

Use  of  dogs  in  hunting,  178. 
Woodson,  General,  98-99. 
Worms,  medicine  for,  236. 
Wun  Lung,  248. 


Wyeth,  Huston,  ■^2' 

Young  Jingo,  31,  32. 
Young  Rip  Rap,  31,  39,  183. 
Yours  Truly,  114. 

Zig  Zag,  31. 


Webster  Family  Library  of  Veterinary  Medicine 
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The  Deer  Family 

By  Theodore  Roosevelt,  T.  S.  Van  Dyke,  D.  G.  Elliot,  and  A.  J. 
Stone.  Illustrated  by  Carl  Rungius  ;  with  map  by  Dr.  C.  Hart 
Merriam. 

"The  illustrations  by  Carl  Rungius  are  excellent  and  appropriate,  and 
the  entire  contents  of  the  book  bear  evidence  of  having  been  written  by  men 
who  have  a  loving  and  educated  interest  in  their  subjects." 

—  New  York  Evening  Post, 


Upland  Game  Birds 

By  Edwyn  Sandys  and  T.  S.  Van  Dyke.    Illustrated  by  L,  A.  Fuertes, 
A.  B.  Frost,  J.  O.  Nugent,  and  C.  L.  Bull. 

"  It  is  a  creditable  work,  written  with  care  and  intelligence,  and  will  be 
found  very  entertaining  by  those  who  pursue  feathered  game.  There  is  a 
good  deal  of  instruction  to  be  found  in  the  work,  which  is  likely  to  add  con- 
siderably to  the  success  of  the  sportsman  when  hunting  the  birds  described." 

—  Shooting  and  Fishing. 


Salmon  and  Trout 

By  Dean  Sage,  W.   C.    Harris,   and  C.   H.  Townsend.    Illustrated  by 
A.  B.  Frost  and  others. 

"A  distinctly  valuable  and  authoritative  contribution.  .  .  .  "Will  be 
found  to  contain  interesting  material  and  reliable  information  for  the  enthusi- 
astic fisherman,  who  would  know  how,  when,  and  where  to  fish  for  these 
gamy  denizens  of  our  lakes  and  streams." 

—  The  Fishing  Gazette. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

66  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 


AMERICAN   SPORTSMAN^S   LIBRARY 


The  Water=fowl  Family 

By  Leonard  C.  Sanford,  L.  B.  Bishop,  and  T.  S.  Van  Dyke.  Illustrated 
by  L.  A.  FuERTES,  A.  B.  Frost,  and  C.  L.  Bull.  Now  ready.  Price 
^2.00,  net. 

Bass,  Pike,  Perch,  and  Pickerel 

By  James  A.  Henshall,  M.D.  Illustrated  by  Martin  Justice  and  others. 
Now  ready.     Price  ^2.QO,  net. 

Big  Game  Fishes  of  the  United  States 

By  Charles  F.  Holder.  Illustrated  by  Charles  F.  W.  Mielatz  and  others. 
Now  ready.     Price  ^2.00,  net. 

Guns,  Ammunition,  and  Tackle 

By  A.  W.  Money,  W.  E.  Carlin,  A.  L.  A.  Himmelwright,  and  J.  Har- 
rington Keene.     Illustrated.     Now  ready.     Price  ^2.00,  net. 

The  Sporting  Dog 

By  Joseph  A.  Graham.     With  many  illustrations. 


IN  PREPARATION   FOR  EARLY   ISSUE 

The  Bison,  Musk=ox,  Sheep,  and  Goat 
Family 

By  George  Bird  Grinnell,  Owen  Wister,  and  Caspar  Whitney.     Illus- 
trated by  Carl  Rungius  and  others. 

Photography  for  the  Sportsman  Naturalist 

By  W.  E.  Carlin.     Illustrated. 


Further  volumes  will  include  articles  on  The  Bear  Family;  The  Cougar, 
Wild  Cat,  Wolf,  and  Fox;  American  Race  Horse  and  Running  Horse;  Trot- 
ting and  Pacing ;  Riding  and  Driving ;  Yachting,  Small  Boat  Sailing,  and 
Canoeing;  Baseball  and  Football;  Rowing,  Track  Athletics,  and  Swimming; 
Lacrosse,  Lawn  Tennis,  Wrestling,  Racquets,  Squash,  and  Court  Tennis; 
Skating,  Hockey,  Ice  Yachting,  Coasting,  and  Skate  Sailing. 


THE    MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

66   FIFTH  AVENUE,   NEW   YORK 


